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by Nandini Likki
I know my friend is going.1
The world has zipped up her second mouth.2
The stars arranged themselves quietly.3
Like this, your memory wavers in the threshold.4
I remember we broke into laughter when we saw each other.5
So who am I after the visitation?6
I could but did not, reach to touch your arm.7
Yes, given half a chance. Yes.8
Just want the pain to go away, you say, surprised to find yourself reaching for someone else’s hand.9
Like you, I was raised in the institution of dreaming.10
Lately I don’t feel as if I lived with you.11
Like you used to make me when you were alive.12
1 “Eating Together,” Kim Addonizio
2 “Sanity,” Caroline Bird
3 “The Years,” Alex Dimitrov
4 “Night Lament in Hergla,” Leila Chatti
5 “What I Didn’t Know Before,” Ada Limón
6 “In Her Absence I Created Her Image,” Mahmoud Darwish
7 “We Have Not Long to Love,” Tennessee Williams
8 “Rain,” Raymond Carver
9 "All Trains Are Going Local," Timothy Liu
10 “Meditations in an Emergency,” Cameron Awkward-Rich
11 “The Day of Our Divorce Hearing,” Ruth Lepson
12 “"Miss you. Would like to take a walk with you." by Gabrielle Calvocoressi
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