“Excuse me.”
An arm extends into my vision, an item is retrieved, the arm withdrawn.
I continue standing there, unblinking, eyes flooded with tears.
Five days ago my life was overflowing, like these shelves in the hardware store.
I start to sob.
Why are there so many types of brushes?

Stacey Anwin is writer, researcher and educator. Most of her writing combines forms and genres to capture the complexity of lived experience. Her book, The Writing Project: Recovering the Writing Self and Regaining Agency through Writing About Domestic Abuse contains fiction, nonfiction and scholarship. Find her at staceyanwin.com.