Our Formal Get-Together

Laura James is a journalism graduate from The City College of New York, where she won The Goodman Poetry Award. After a few years reporting and teaching in Spain and Germany, James is now back in New York City writing her first novel. Follow her on Instagram @ljallday "Our Formal Get-Together" is in Short Circuit #11, Short Édition's quarterly review.

We became a hyphenated word like
honky-tonk, long-term, six-pack, full-time

We dropped the dash like
butterfingers, afterthought, upstream, everything

We fit the mold, independently, like
half of something more complex

We simplified it;
I stepped forward when you stepped back

You stepped forward when I stepped back;
We blended into one word,

A portmanteau, like
spork, smog, froyo, brunch

A portmanteau is a suitcase
It opens into halves

I don't think we've closed up
But we have less friends than before

Or we see them less. And I worry
They don't care

/don't know
If I'm smoke or if you're breakfast

Because I can't even remember
When we leave together

We will pack separate bags
And I will have to

I will pull my roots out like
Etymology can help us
 

© Short Édition - All Rights Reserved

9

You might also like…

Poetry
Poetry

Disappearing Acts

Erin Kirsh

When she left, Anita took Mom's valise, the round one with the wooden handle from Eaton's department store. Mom was furious. She'd had it on hold at the store for weeks while she earned enough to ...  [+]

Poetry