Chum
Janet McAdams
These waters with the rot he left in me.
A shower, a hand mid-back and decades of thrill
and sickness each time
​
a lover flipped me over.
I say lover, my shopping cart empty
as I scour the mean shelves of English for language.
A hollowed-out girl is the best bait ever. Hey Pal. Hey
Chum, which comes from chamber mate—
Was it a chamber? that small tiled space. Some body’s
pal. Anybody’s chum.
Janet McAdams is the author of the poetry collections Feral and The Island of Lost Luggage, which received an American Book Award. Her chapbook of prose poems, Seven Boxes for the Country After, won the Wick Chapbook competition and was published in 2016. Recent work has appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic and Heavy Feather Review. She lives in Mexico.