MANTLEPIECE

I once wanted the skulls
of my chihuahuas
preserved after
their passing
devotion to the small
companions whose tenure
spanned longer than
any dwelling or
common law
Time had polished
their rude
edges
and oh how
they’d softened
I could not
bring myself to ask
for the severing
then boiling of bones
—Hadn’t their enlarged hearts
and watery lungs been
torment enough? In the end, rien
No bone nor ash nor altar,
an absence familiar as
floor crumbs undevoured

Rhienna Renée Guedry is a writer and illustrator from Louisiana based in Portland, Oregon. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and 2022 Tin House Workshop alum, you can find her work in Maudlin House, Southern Humanities Review, Muzzle, and elsewhere. Her chapbook Root Rot is available through Cooper Dillon Books. Rhienna is currently working on her first novel.