Bojana Stojcic, “Woman With Drawers

court is now in session (typewriter clacking) will the accused please stand

you have been charged with first-degree murder cold-bloodedly killing the meaning of life death by strangulation according to the report (dings)

your honor, may i approach the bench? (nodding)

you see, i have been collecting shadows like dead starfish washed ashore for as long as i can remember i tried to close the door, i swear, but they shoved their way in, wrapped both hands around my neck, and squeezed told me how easy it would be, then let go

(scoffs) imagine a convenience store feeling bad for getting broken into

now we live side by side, my shadows and i i watch them following sunsets moving at a crawl across my walls my ceilings and my floors i would if i could (they know that) but my razor blades went blunt so we chase each other shadowed by pity and self-doubt lying how sorry we are for turning into a fastidiously selected sequence of movements and speech patterns a twisted waltz of remorse and denial choking arteries with its stalled traffic

consuming only easily digestible foods and beating ourselves up over every indulgent slip-up we share a home to escape aging alone, all alone because a convenient time to see the world turned into a convenient excuse sweet turned into too salty into too fatty and spicy into too bitter each slice of joy is smeared thick with moral culpability every smile is a poison pill we lick voraciously before crushing it with teeth and letting it dissolve in stomach

please return to your seat how do you plead? (door opens, closes)

Guilty, your honor