The Ofi Press Magazine

Poem by Stephanie Rose Guerrero Trujillo (USA)

Published in The Ofi Press issue 48 

Withdrawal

Sleepy Time Tea

(An Hour Before I go to sleep)

Black licorice.
Valerian Root.

Blue Cohosh.

Red Wine. Pale Ales. Tequila and Tinctures.

I pour with white fingertips, red vessels.

I tend to their gardens, while I walk the demons that insist

I have more to prove -

to defeat.

Their weight is heavy on me - with little room to move.

Under

Going

physiological changes.

 I hear them speak in non-coherent gurgles, and I maintain a lack of sleep;

 the texture on my tongue is dried lotus, soft like found feathers.

 I find their bolo ties wrapped around the necks of bottles I’ve drank next to my bed.

All the same kinds of men that walk in my family.

Ornaments of a rite of passage. They’re dismantling and discovering what exists underneath my mind’s pillows. I’m dressed like them –

 to dream,

 for this ritual, but l do not fall asleep.

Stephanie Rose Guerrero Trujillo was born in Los Angeles, CA and spent time living throughout various parts of L.A., Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mexico City. In 2013 she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography and media and continues to create work in both visual and literary medias. Her latest collection of musings titled "Jump Rope" can be viewed at Stories LA, Skylight Books, and on Amazon.

Image: "Tea" by Jess.