Poem by David Hanlon
when Xander says, I’m just going to go home, lie down,
and listen to country music, the music of pain
after confessing his love for Buffy
and feeling rejected
because she doesn’t feel
the same as him
after he asks Willow to go
to the dance with him instead
and Willow declines too
not wanting to be his band-aid
his rebound date
I pool
like the dark red blood that runs
from the tap and fills
up the sink in the locker room
in the following scene
and Buffy rushes
to tell Giles what she has seen
and before
she gets the chance to
she hears
him tell Angel that tomorrow night
she will face the master,
and she will die.
David Hanlon is a poet from Cardiff, Wales. You can find his work online in over 70 magazines, including Rust & Moth, Barren Magazine & Into the Void. His first chapbook Spectrum of Flight is available at Animal Heart Press. You can follow him on twitter @davidhanlon13 and Instagram @welshpoetd.
