By Andi MylesNovember 30, 2022 Yesterday, I burned my hand,and you got Shakespeare in the divorcewhich feels unfair.You were beautiful in your knowingness—thesense that you already knew my secrets, but even morethat I knew yours—a greenish gold shimmeringthe good kind of ache, the hero ofour story.For a few glorious moments,we read the same pages.But once... Continue Reading →
Spring fed. When I was young, my father told me it was why the lake’s water was so clear and cold. Limited the weeds too, he would go on, when compared to lakes in the southern part of the state which became green and fetid from late summer algae blooms. The bottom is shallow and... Continue Reading →
Living is no joke. To live, I mean really live, is to be brave, which is not to sayfearless — what I really mean is thatyou must live with great conviction to know that you are alive,and really feel that you are alive, each moment, without looking back.I mean like a flushed goldfish swirling through theunknown... Continue Reading →
This is our last danceTogether, mother, but IWant you to tell me whyYou still let crimson runDown your lips on FridayNights, why you keepTelling yourself you’ll quitBut never do. I wonder ifThis is what lies taste like.Mother, I can picture yourGravestone in my mind soClearly, see that it has no name,Nothing to prove that thereWas... Continue Reading →
After my father died I became jealous of every unorphaned child who held thecalloused arm of her dad in one hand and tucked the other in her mouth like alollipop in familiar footpaths and leisurely streets and smiled at me, mockingmy blank face. I wanted to hide forever from the world. I effaced ants andfireflies... Continue Reading →
A river flows from my eyes every nightand the moss settled on the banksmakes the myopia of mythsThe world is hazy as if it ends in arm's lengththe river sets the limits to my worldThen my father appears and kindles the bedroomwith his haloI touch the braille of his rugged cheeksand move my fingers through his locksIt's the same... Continue Reading →
Pain is a seedwhich grows with timeand spreads its brown branchesover the bonesand sheds its leavesin the rivulets of bloodtill it exceeds the bodyand becomes a carapaceYou can come out of itListen to the cadence of heartbeatsthat croon a rhyme of revelrybehold the candle of the soulthat burns in you and throwsthe petals of flamesto... Continue Reading →
We loved like ancient peoples,shrouded in mystery, hidden deepin caves, under thatched roofs, inside adobe walls.Beside fires that smoldered, sending smoke into darkness undisturbed.We loved for ourselves, without thought to legacydiscovered later — only by happenstance —by descendants long removed,left to guess and hypothesize and decipherwho we were. Our fossilized love,embedded in strata, archived in... Continue Reading →
From my balcony on the fourth floorof this downtown apartment, I can seenests tucked under the roofline of the surrounding buildings.Birds dart in and out. I couldn’t name a single one,except the bullying blue jay. But I recognize their calls,some sharp and brief, others bright and trilling.The morning dove’s (or is it mourning?)is low like... Continue Reading →
I don’t believe in ironing bed sheets or jeans (or owning an iron at all), leaving shopping carts willy-nilly all over the grocery store parking lot, or saving that back-of-the-cupboard bottle of wine for an unspecified specialoccasion. I see no sanctity in staying quiet and standing down, working hard just to play even harder (if ever), or avoiding the... Continue Reading →
