#MIDDLEBURY
Dear Melissa –
TC Tolbert
a curve billed thrasher
is cleaning its beak on the ground –
we are closer now than ever – sitting
in shadow – I never want to scare
anyone – not really – I have a friend
who loves people who come out
suddenly – in the dark –
pleasure
is the same distance as pain from here –
that’s my skin on your sweater – both hands
stripped now – I know I am someone
to you I am entirely – practicing
Spanish on the computer – gesturing to
the neighbor instead of speaking –
to sharpen
the body is never an accident – someone
I know I am not – letters are inseparable
from loss – moving what can be still
moved – one is sweeping the mouth –
what ever isn’t skin – take it off –
About this poem
“Melissa is the name of the young woman I once was, and while it’s true that she never left me, I often wonder if I left her. This poem is one way of saying, ‘Thank you, Melissa, for being a body my death could die into.'” – TC Tolbert
About TC Tolbert
TC Tolbert is the author of “Gephyromania” (Ahsahta Press, 2014). S/he teaches in the low-residency M.F.A. program at Oregon State University-Cascades and lives in Tucson, Ariz.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
(c) 2016 TC Tolbert. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
