On Sasha's Death by Mallory Tater

Lauren texts me ​I’m so sad. I’m sorry
She was our friend.​ I search for the photo—
Lauren and Sasha embraced when
Lauren finished her art class painting
of an old woman. Is it you? Sasha once asked her,
I saw what she saw too—the bridge of the nose,
blue eyes shocked out of deep creases,
the uncertainty of the mouth,
of how to keep one’s wildness hushed.
We don’t know
where the painting ended up. I wanted it.
Sasha wanted it. Lauren didn’t care.
The school donates them
or throws them out.
Sasha would’ve loved to have it—
if only for eight years, she’d be able to hang it
above her kitchen table or credenza desk,
look at the woman Lauren made
and dream of being old, waning,
of memory, of light, of being.

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Mallory Tater’s poetry and fiction have been published in literary magazines across Canada and shortlisted for several awards. Her first book of poetry is This Will Be Good and her novel The Birth Yard is forthcoming with HarperCollins Canada and Audible in March 2020. She is the founder of Rahila’s Ghost Press, which publishes limited-edition poetry chapbooks. Mallory lives in Vancouver with her husband Curtis LeBlanc.