Words: ‘Irreconcilable Differences,’ by Cassie Hottenstein

Irreconcilable Differences by Cassie Hottenstein

Love takes time— as does its loss, to sink its sucker-lined tendrils into a lonely heart,

to wrench desire for one more sex-crazed night out of mitochondrial geyser, to feel the heat

of you one last time. With bated breath

loss takes its time, tictocing against every fiber of an empty bed, dryer alarm groans finished, leaving me to put on the fitted sheet by myself for the first time, to spread the patchwork quilt of paisley-sick memories, stained and threadbare upon a brand-new mattress in a brand-new room—loss is tedium,

THE BRENTANO STRING QUARTET FEBRUARY 8, 2020

The Dark, Coiled Intensity of F Minor 4:30 - 6:30 pm Grace Lutheran Church, 1001 13th St., Boulder Tickets: $25; students $10

Featuring music in F Minor by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Shostakovich plus the world premiere of Bruce Adolphe’s Coiled, based on Beethoven’s F Minor quartet “Serioso” Opus 95. Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim.

fumbling fingers wind a broken clock that clicks its tongue against its teeth, echo echo off chilly walls of box-lined single studio— such a shame— how piteous it must be to touch myself alone in the dark, under the old covers, dirtying the past by myself, my orgasm begging and pleading to a deaf and dumb loom to stitch shut the holes that keep us separated.

I now tidy alone; chores once divided,

now united in regretful sweaty clasp of slow back-and-forth, whirring up the dust bunnies left over in hopes a clean carpet will reveal

the steps our ghosts are taking.

Cassie Hottenstein is a poet most recently from Jacksonville, Florida, though she’s made Colorado her home for over 3 years. Her poetry and stories have been published in Inklette, Every Pigeon, the Talon Review and the Tampa Review Online.