Woman, 41

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This black and white photograph shows a man and a woman lying down.

Your pit of still wanting him— 
the width of a pin, but depths 
only the damned understand.

Your body grew too soon, 
became a noose; obscenely 
swollen rope. He insisted you

slipped your lips around his
throat. He dreamed each neighbor’s 
wife was an exit door.

He wanted a more that you 
never were. Wanted any other 
her. And now, that love interred,

you sleep and sleep, conceal your 
need between your sluggish
eyelids and his locked-closed knees.

Woman, 41, undone by grief. Don’t 
forget how miserly he was with love. 
One touch was all it took: you were

appeased. But a twin of you existed,
and exists. She is incensed; sweet and mad— 
the collective rage of every raised hand.

Once-wife, you were the happiest 
girl on the block. But his crushing 
lust fucked it up.

Jessica Piazza

is the author of three poetry collections: Interrobang, This is not a sky, and Obliterations (with Heather Aimee O’Neill), as well as the children’s book Olivia Otter Builds Her Raft. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Jessica now lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches at the University of Southern California. She co-founded Bat City Review (Austin, TX) and Gold Line Press (Los Angeles, CA), and curates Poetry Has Value, which focuses on the intersections of poetry, money and worth. She is the recipient of the Amy Clampitt residency and is working on a new poetry collection and a novel. Her poems have most recently appeared in Best American Poetry, Smartish Pace and 32 Poems.

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