When Channel 10 said that young girl died from rat poisoning, I wondered if you checked your mouth for the ulcers you always found in mine. If the white hues of your mousy tongue compelled you to sully the soap between your molars, and if as the blood fell between the cracks of your too tight teeth, you let it sit, thinking it made you look more exciting than even your wildest fantasy. If you gritted your teeth to feel the shards vandalize your throat, and when you reached to call poison control, if your finger lingered over me.
Gretchen Troxell is a fourth-year student at Bowling Green State University. She is studying creative writing and has minors in film studies and scientific & technical communication. She is the Editor-of-Chief of her school’s undergraduate literary journal, Prairie Margins, and an Assistant Editor for their graduate journal, Mid-American Review. Her work can be found in Fleas on the Dog, Quirk: The Literary Journal of the University of the Incarnate Word, The Bookends Review, The Allegheny Review, and Euphony Journal.