Cutting through a bagel, I recalled the girl stood next
to me
At the checkout earlier that day and slipped with the
knife
Straight down rather than a slice
A solid full-blade thunk
into the palm of my hand
The metal didn’t hurt but embedded its smooth edge
Deep into the flesh stopping on the bone
She had purple eye shadow that intentionally matched
Her purple leather satchel bag
I found this for some reason unsettling
Even more so than her sideways resemblance to Isabella
Rossellini
I stare at people
too long, I thought. But what else is there to do?
I leaned my weight on the handle seeing how far I could
get the knife
Until the pain started, but it went all the way through
I was just stood there dripping blood - half a hand on
the counter
As people came in to make their grey coffee and dead
sandwiches
They didn’t seem to notice. Or if they did
Nobody said a god damn thing about it to
Me.