Tom's Mom's House
Mel Bosworth



I stood back to admire my handiwork. Elbowing you in the side, “Yeah! Mums! Look at ‘em!” Rehab was still fresh on your shoulders like sunburn. You tried to smile, fumbled a pack of cigarettes from your shirt pocket. The pack landed in a nearby rhododendron. I pried the branches apart so we could look inside. The pack stood crooked on the rim of a bird’s nest. You said, “The fuck? Those birds smoking?” I frowned, “No, they’re not.” You fingered a lighter from your front pocket and, watching you do this, I understood how you could be a junky. I was sleeping with your little sister. What a ride! You’re such a jerk! Leaning into the rhododendron, you touched the flame to the nest and the world puked.

About the author:
Mel Bosworth is the author of the novel Freight and the poetry chapbook Every Laundromat in the World. His work has appeared in Hayden's Ferry Review, Tin House, Per Contra, New World Writing, Santa Monica Review, and Melville House, among others. Mel's book reviews have appeared in HTMLGIANT, The Lit Pub, and American Book Review. He is the series editor for the Wigleaf Top 50 (2015) and the creator & curator of Small Press Book Review. Mel lives, breathes, writes, and works in Western Massachusetts.