Carla Sarett
We woke exhausted. All temperatures were unbearable. In rain, doors were locked, we never owned keys. When Mother cooked, flames arose from the antique stove, we showered salt to calm them and ate burnt meats. As consolation, we drank vats of cocoa while Mother read Pride and Prejudice and Brother slept with his unnamed cat and Father lost all of his money. Mother took to her closet after a doctor shouted she’d murdered Brother… a lie but not entirely untrue. Father strayed and of course returned to find Truth. There were rare tumors. Dead, Brother appeared at Mother’s deathbed. I knew you’d come my darling, she sighed, how long can anyone stay away?
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Carla Sarett is a poet and fiction writer based in San Francisco. Recent work appears in Quartet, Thimble, Gyroscope, UnLost, and elsewhere. 2022 will see publication of her comic novel, A Closet Feminist (Unsolicited Press), and her debut poetry collection, She Has Visions (Main Street Rag Press.)
