How well I know the body
you wish to be tended
after your death, and
the full body of desire
you keep for anyone
who offers its release.
To everyone in your life,
I am a ghost.
I beg to be your
emergency contact.
How else will I know?
I hold on to this, whisper
emergency
louder with each year.
When we’re through, you touch
the tearing beat of your heart
with your open palm
and ask me, what if?
Jessica Heron’s work can be found or is forthcoming in The Horror Zine, Hole In the Head Review, Black Petals Horror/Science Fiction Magazine, and others. She was a Tupelo Press 30/30 Project poet for November 2021. Jessica is a poetry reader for Catatonic Daughters.
Angel Rust 