Written by Melissa Lemay
A part of me aches—
The part of me your fingers used to touch—
Turned the deepest shades of azure.
I am cold—
The kind of grayed out, washed out
Blue-violet thinness
That makes people ask
‘Did she feel pain before she went?’
You beat me to the punch
Of a death walk I dreamt of for centuries
And farther than nuclear shadow
Imprinted
On the steps outside the bank. You—
Ulcerating my skin in the seconds
Following
The blast—I
Slowly-quickly disintegrated
From the outside-in. I remember—
The searing pain that folded me over
Onto the floor.
No matter—
I could not fold far enough into and
Into and
Into
.
.
.
Myself.
Alone—
As the concrete bank steps.
I know—
I hold the stories in my bones—
As the cement’s pores hold the excrement
Of shadow.
Author’s notes: The blast from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima essentially bleached some sidewalks and other walkways, leaving behind what people refer to as “shadows”. They are simply cutouts of last moments, whatever a person was doing at the time that blocked the atomic blast from immediately affecting that area.
What is left of love after it implodes?
Text © Melissa Lemay
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