This is a guest post by Marissa. Inspiration for this sketch came from this image.

She told us she was going to the grocery store,
Looked back one last time before she left,
And now I dream about her chestnut eyes
And her autumn colored dress.

She said she would pick up the meat
And I imagine the steaks
Wrapped in butcher’s string and white paper
To match her white gloves and white hat.

I think of the nape of her neck
As she leans over the cutting board,
The precise square chunks of beef,
Red jewels of flesh on glass.

But she never came back.

She left us for science.
She did not need our love.
Only a clean, still lab
And faith in method.