by William Teets
This poem has been reprinted for our Editors’ Picks Summer 2026 Edition.
It was originally published in the Spring 2024 Edition of confetti.
Before I left for good
she asked if we could embrace
Wanted to know why memories are mental and physical
and why both hurt so bad
If I remembered our first kiss on West Fourth Street
in front of Jack the Ripper’s Pub
l told her I didn’t but remember kissing Sally
on the eighth-grade school bus ride to Playland
And like some antique porcelain doll
spiderweb cracks spread across her face
I felt like such a villain for making her feel so bad
and turned into winter rain
Rain that falls on schoolyard children, prison yards,
and old men walking their dogs past boarded-up buildings
A menace of an ill-faith love
penned into a dark fairy tale
A coldness that must be recognized
as surely as tomorrow masquerades as today
© 2024 William Teets All rights reserved.
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