/rebecca valley

MATINS

I am spread

legs

two waves not

for me, you’re

making breakfast

so slowly

we wanted more but

someone called

the police

They were worried

Where have you been

all these years

my god

.

The streets are

no longer empty

of other people

living

It is harder to forget

someone else was once in

your place

I find it soothing

to press my thumb into

the jaw’s hinge

loose knob

tighten my

grip

I am only

renting

this body

It doesn’t

belong

to me

.

I wanted

a pancake

and you are obliging

to women you hope

to snare in love

I still don’t know

what it meant

your hair in my mouth

I think it meant something

my foot

your hands

It meant

I was someone

you’d choose

Rebecca Valley‘s work has been published in Rattle, Black Warrior Review, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, on Poets.org, and in other journals. Rebecca received an MFA in Creative Writing from UMass Amherst, along with the 2019 Academy of American Poets Award. Rebecca currently lives in Western Massachusetts. You can find more at www.rebeccavalley.com.