Michelle Malis
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Michelle Malis is our Sunday Showcase this week! Her poem “From M” grapples with the complex feelings love brings up — a perfect read before Valentine’s Day. You can find another poem by Michelle, Line 34, in our second issue.
From M
– Michelle Malis
you’re breaking my heart, again, and i’m letting you.
darling, darling, walk into the sunday afternoon like you didn’t just say that, let me trace your face with my unworthy palm. if only you’d been different,
and i, too, not a vessel of shame, but a vessel of love like a jar of lemon jam in saint tropez, or,
or a cup of chocolate in venice. let’s take a walk on the street like nothing
is gone. like we didn’t do this ourselves, i am the maker
of my own destruction. i cradled love in my soft arms and strangled it, too. i watch you go again against the sounds of waves and i say,
please. i wasn’t supposed to be the kind of person someone leaves, darling,
and you poured me a glass of champagne and i saw in the edge of your shoulders the word,
gone. it is summer again and again and again and what a cruel joke that is. kiss me in the dark, begone
by morning, fine, take what you will and run with it. just don’t
walk away slowly into the blue evening, just don’t
walk away slowly, you say,
darling, and i say,
stay, and you say,
darling, and i say..