Jennifer Gnisci, Contributor to Moving, For You: A Tribute to Empathy

Neptune’s Course

I stand in the middle of myself

as Neptune courses its cosmic heels in reverse,

immune to my longing to sustain impossible fantasy.

It swoops in, barreling me with old lovers

unsent letters and humility to boot.

As layers of illusion peel from my eyes,

I’m alone again with the woman I was

before and after you.

From the sky I’m falling sideways wild

If I wasn’t mourning I’d think I was dancing.

Freedom courses my source

as I untangle from your loose noose

those wounds and ghosts that bear not my name.

Here I am breaking glass on pavement

I need to feel something of my own again

My name undulates and unfolds in imminent deluge

setting funeral pyres to the containment of your dam.

The dream I painted of us chips, cracks…we are crumbling

It’s time again to be a warrior.

Calligraphy by Amorosa5