Reflection:

The reader should consider the mental state of the I in the poem. Does she seem reliable? Does she see situations clearly? What can she see that others can't?

I May Never Be Able to Stop Writing

Love Poems

​

even if you demand if of me. Even if

you have sealed off your mail slot with duct tape,  

snuck into my bedroom and deleted your number

and address from my iPhone, bought up

all the postage stamps from the grocery store

two blocks from my apartment, disabled comments

for all your social media accounts. Even if you no longer love me.

I would want to write anything but a love poem.

My fingers, though, are used to you—

the tips turn purple, ache with an unnerving tingle

relieved only when I write poems

and mail them to a private p.o. box.

I tear the envelopes open right there in the lobby,

pull out reams of you-shaped paper dolls—weep.

Erin Lynn Marsh is a poet living and working in Bemidji, MN. She is the author of Disability Isn’t Sexy (Jules' Poetry Playhouse Publications, 2019), which was nominated for a 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. Her work has appeared in Post Road Magazine, Sugar House Review, Paper Darts, Emrys Journal, wordgathering.com, and the anthology Hers: Poets Speak (while we still can), Vol. 2  (Beatlick Press and Jules' Poetry Playhouse Publications, 2017), edited by Jules Nyquist. She was a 2019/2020 Region 2 Arts Council Artist Fellow and was previously awarded two Individual Artist Grants. You can find her online at erinlynnmarsh.com.

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