She Coughs When She Flushes, like I Don’t Know the Difference by Ryan Quinn Flanagan

She Coughs When She Flushes, like I Don’t Know the Difference

She comes out of the bathroom
with a towel wrapped tight around her head
and asks me what I am reading
and I tell her: The Human Condition
is a Terminal Illness
by Matthew Hall.

Never heard of him, she says,
walking back into the bathroom
picking at her ear with a
bent Q-tip.

And you likely never will, I say,
but he is there, sure as gravel
pits.

She is back under the fan now,
cannot hear a thing I am saying
even if she wanted to.

Two flies take turns buzzing at my face
in winged tandem
and I throw the book back down on the bed
and head outside.

A few deep breaths for human biology.
Our motel room the same as all the others.

Standing in the doorway with my hands on my hips
like a 14th century peasant with a stoop,
surveying someone else’s broken
rainy fiefdom.

Ryan Quinn FlanaganRyan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian born author presently residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario Canada. His work has been published both in print and online in such places as The New York Quarterly, Windsor Review, Vallum, The Antigonish Review, CV2, Horror Sleaze Trash, Evergreen Review, Your One Phone Call and In Between Hangovers.

2 Replies to “She Coughs When She Flushes, like I Don’t Know the Difference by Ryan Quinn Flanagan”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.