Here and how it bent under the weight of the next-door girl, all bones and thin cotton dress swinging on it, talking to me, and how her mother grabbed her tight on the arm: I told you not to hang on that tree. She dragged her and I followed. Hallway, bedroom, yellow mattress with no sheets on it: Now your friend is gonna see you get beat. We had wire hangers, too, but I had never seen them used like that. She couldn’t get away, then, but now even the tree is gone.
Why can’t I remember her name?
Brook Bhagat (she / her) is the author of Only Flying, a Pushcart-nominated collection of surreal poetry and flash fiction from Unsolicited Press. Her work has won contests and appeared in Anthem: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, Empty Mirror, Monkeybicycle, Soundings East, and elsewhere. Two new collections, Exodus with Red Delicious and I Drink from an Ear: Real Ghazals, are forthcoming from Unsolicited Press in 2026 and 2027. She is a founding editor of Blue Planet Journal, the founder and facilitator of The Nearby Universe writers’ group, and a professor of creative writing and poetry at Pikes Peak State College.