Ghosted

BY KIM ADDONIZIO

I guess you realized how worthless I am
I myself am just beginning to discover it…
Nothing is being named after me

A planet would be nice…or a star system
But I don’t want to be anyone’s sunshine
Maybe a black hole…I just saw a picture of one

& oddly you weren’t in it…
I don’t care what you’re wearing right now
as you don’t think of me at all…I’ve already disappeared

like a dead girl in a police procedural
but you’re not the detective…& I’m not dead…
Darling, there are plenty of nameless alleys

& I intend to walk down one late at night
howling at the trash bins until a light blinks on
& someone sets out a nice dish of gin…

Kim Addonizio is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, most recently Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writing Life (Penguin) and Mortal Trash: Poems (W.W. Norton). A new poetry collection, Now We’re Getting Somewhere, is forthcoming in 2021. Her writing has appeared widely in publications from Poetry to the New York Times, and has been translated in to several languages, including Catalan, Spanish, Arabic, Italian, and Hungarian. Her awards include two fellowships from the NEA, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and two Pushcart Prizes. She teaches privately online and in Oakland, and at conferences and workshops internationally. Visit her at kimaddonizo.com.

Next (Jacob Lindberg) >

< Previous (John Freeman)