the poem I was too afraid to finish
(return to sender)
You sent me love letters in code,
a language we invented.
Gently asking “Are you there?”
Softly reminding me, “I am, too.”
We leave the loose ends undone
so nothing has to end.
Folded in the pages,
a board for tic-tac-toe:
X-O-X
O-O-X
O-X-
4 thoughts on "the poem I was too afraid to finish"
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Love the tic-tac-toe board at the end. And imagining that Whoever’s turn it was to send the letter didnt do it out of fear of X winning. Or O losing, as the case may be. And it is especially clever given how often strings of X and O are messages of love. Strings of hugs and kisses.
I won’t say finish, but I love the way you leave off — an unfinished tic-tac-toe game. Someone is going to win, but who? Clever and fresh poem.
beautiful. It feels so perfectly infinite.
💙💙💙