By Isabel Brown

This piece was featured in our winter show, A Gathering of Poets and Writers, 2022.

 

Me and Your Ether

I cannot afford the stars

Or the manzanillas they sell

Across the street

On special occasions-,

But within me is the currency

To your needs.

 

Between me and your ether,

I attempt to grasp

Your emptiness.

 

Shallow as glass,

I hope it fills itself

When I am not around,

At the very least.

 

Between me and your ether,

I can hear your laughter-

Like the cluck of a 

Goose, 

And it rings in my ears

Like I have everything to lose.

 

Between me and your ether, 

Sometimes I feel grief

When I see you around 

The friends I know

You dislike the most.

 

I think I might die a little

If I have to witness

Dissimilar emotions

In your eyes and smile

Once more.

 

That is why I need 

Manzanillas

(to grieve), 

And why I have to

Buy stars.

 

At least the ether knows

That this flourished love

Cannot be solved with 

An equation-

 

And it scares you;

Makes the ether wider.

 

I grieve you every day.

 

 

(“Between two Borders” (2022), Alyssa Nasser)