The non-stop drip drip drip from the faucet is my own private water torture. Each drop that falls into the pile of dirty dishes cluttering the sink pops, the way your kiss used to pop on my cheek every night in bed just before you would snap off the light.

Kip Knott’s debut full-length book of poetry, Tragedy, Ecstasy, Doom, and so on, is available from Kelsay Books. His second full-length book of poetry, Clean Coal Burn, is forthcoming later in 2021, also from Kelsay Books. More of his work may be accessed at kipknott.com.