The Longitude of Erosion or the Meridians of Insouciance
When you stood me up at Penn Station after our fling in Florence
that summer, I’d never have imagined I’d be laughing
years later, watching your life unfold on a screen in a series of snapshots
revealing a revolving door of blondes and babies added to your brood
When we met and backpacked together from Rome to Florence
it was a bliss of days I seized that mid-night I knocked on your door
Giddy from dancing on a table with new friends at that little bar
How we talked about our dreams on the hostel veranda until the sun came up
Burnishing our unwashed faces with its hue & lament for I was leaving that morning
Impetuously, you decided to take time off work to come with
We ran for the train & missed it
Ate strawberry gelato in Termini as the guards chastised us
We kissed on every corner and ducked behind fountains
Listened to Canadian death metal at the record store
Trekked and lingered on winding lines at the Duomo, the Uffizi
Camped at the hostel drunk on jug wine under the stars
When you stood me up, I mocked myself for trusting
in a love that light, that graceful, for trusting in you
Now I’m grateful we didn’t taint our tryst with relationship dramas
Midlife crises and whose turn it is to clean the bathroom
Grateful we didn’t ruin our time together with bitter resentments
or an accounting of life’s mundane daily tasks,
This memory of feeling free in Florence at last
unencumbered by relationships, & hiking up hills in a pair of flip flops
This memory of myself, how it remains
Braids twisted up to see the sun, & laughing outside Dante’s little house
*
Melissa Eleftherion (she/they) is a writer, a librarian, and a visual artist. Born & raised in Brooklyn, she holds degrees from Brooklyn College, Mills College, and San Jose State University. They are the author of the full-length poetry collections: field guide to autobiography (The Operating System, 2018), & gutter rainbows (Querencia Press, 2024), as well as twelve chapbooks including abject sutures (above/ground press, 2024). Her work has been widely published & featured in venues like Quarter after Eight, Sixth Finch, Entropy, & Barren Magazine. Melissa now lives in Northern California where she manages the Ukiah Branch Library, curates the LOBA Reading Series, and serves as Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Ukiah. Recent work is available at www.apoetlibrarian.wordpress.com.
From The Archives: Published on This Day
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