7.04 / April 2012

Near Sonnet for S

Kimberly Ann Southwick

at where i work i know a girl who slurs
her words the way you would-but not the way
when you were drunk and loud, would sway
still tall, balconied, your sentences blurred.
no, not watered-slow-sinking, but laughter
sure, close-confident, talking nights away
in your Christmas-lit room. bedded, we lay
close side by side, wrist brushed against finger.
i loved you once and there in that soft hush;
then her: ladder-perched, her voice a blush.

Kimberly Ann Southwick is editor in chief of the literary arts journal Gigantic Sequins. She lives in Philadelphia and teaches grammar and literature at Rowan University. She does not prefer the Oxford comma. Her poetry has appeared in Barrelhouse, Big Lucks, elimae, Word Riot and other places. Follow her on twitter @kimannjosouth.

7.04 / April 2012