Anticipatory grief

By Lora Robinson

I tell myself three stories.
One: this is something

that is never over
but constantly restarting,

like the sputtering of your
old truck’s cast iron engine,

turning over and over,
surprising even us.

Two: I’ve always been dead,
a once-charming ghost,

a haunting you banished
after selling all your mirrors,

the disappointing reality
of a spooky lover.

Three: I made you up entirely,
a buck’s sentient antler scrape,

a sack of broken dishes,
the book I read cover to cover

and never opened again.

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Lora Robinson is a queer poet from the East Coast. She is a poetry reader for Cobra Milk and The Avenue, an alumnus of Art Farm Nebraska and a writing mentor with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. Her debut collection, An Essential Melancholy, is available now through akinoga press. Connect with her on Instagram @theblondeprive.