Cherry
Her face didn’t sting nor tickle, but it was red and swollen and had sort of a whirl about it.
She tried to smile, but her lips would only move so far. She felt muscles in her cheeks or maybe it was fat. Her mouth began to burn.
She put old chocolate in the fridge.
She called her distant boyfriend. By the time he answered she was all shut-up-again.
Kim Chinquee’s most recent collection is Shot Girls. Her sixth book is due out with Ravenna Press in 2019. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize winner, Senior Editor of New World Writing and Chief Editor of ELJ (Elm Leaves Journal). She lives with her boyfriend, their four dogs, and she co-directs the Writing Major at SUNY-Buffalo State.
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Jellyfish Review 
