I traded my mom
Cigarettes
for a milkshake.
“Please, sweetheart,
I’ll buy you—"
Wendy’s vanilla flows
down my throat.
She’ll give me
the receipt later,
but today
she is smiling through smoke
and the artificial sweetness is
smooth and
I don’t even think
of grandma’s lung cancer.
Hannah Sexton is a senior Psychology student at Kennesaw State University minoring in Professional Writing and Applied Statistics. They are a self-identified poet and an aspiring social worker. Most of their work is focused on generational trauma, mental health, and spirituality. Recently, they attended the Iowa Writers Summer Workshop 2023 and will have work published in Asylum Magazine's Spring Issue in March 2024. In their free time, they like to read books of all genres, crochet, and drink iced coffee.
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