POETRYOne For Youby Erin McIntosh
like when we
facing
the sea turned
away from each other
sinking into sand
and spoke
you asked
what are you
thinking and i
frozen
made something
up
i am sorry
about this
what i was thinking
was so much
simpler which
could have been
"i am
thinking of you"
and
if you’d asked
for specifics
"that you are
beautiful”
how simple how
true how could i
not say
such a thing
to your face
those brilliant
eyes that brilliant
mouth
the light
tracing
your jawline
brilliant skin
of your face
smooth
as a wave
Erin McIntosh is a writer and actress currently living in Los Angeles. Her poetry has appeared and is forthcoming in various journals including Bone Bouquet, Lavender Review, Hawai’i Review, Plenitude Magazine and Pine Hills Review.
spider up her thigh in the dimly lit room
held down, stared down
embers of the abyss snap around her
My father sexually abused me.
When I got married,
I hyphenated my name.
No one questioned it at the time.
But in the middle of my parents’ late divorce,
everyone wants to know about names.
Nietzsche warned us not to look
long into the abyss, or it will look long
into us.
It was finally
his home until
abruptly
his mind flashed
all the times he had entered a
boy
i was depressed,
and i wanted
to take a
walk;
you said you'd join me—
didn't mean i wanted
netflix and chill,
it happened before words came
to tell me how to feel about it
newly connected neurons torn apart
or perverted—
forever firing blanks into the microbiological air
As a child
The lessons taught
Can bring a pain never thought.
The lessons on trust
And heartache
Sear the soul.