LETTER, WRITTEN AND REVISED

Salisbury University

Where there is on my legs, read on our engagement Where I write naked, read dressed Where there is stayed the night, read packed up and left

Where there is space, read break Where I write time, read to live at my sister’s Where there is me, read us

Where there is fake Ficus, read ginger cat Where I write facing the window like, read please pick her up, Where there is bleach the leaves, read warm the cat

My Former Lover,

I cannot say I miss the extra heat of your body in my already-warm bed, nor can I say I miss your cold feet on my legs. I remember you naked, vulnerable when you stayed the night the first

time. You said space, you said time, you said you need all of it but me. The alarm still beeps because you never changed the batteries, and I can’t work up enough nerve to take it off the wall. Your fake

Ficus sits in the corner of the living room, facing the window like it matters. I’ll let the sun bleach the leaves until you come get her.