postcards from a distance

an original poem for a lost friend

after Joshua Garcia

black and white photographs / ugly blue loop for an earring / novels collecting dust / half cut aloe vera / stain of a flower pot that once was / glitter phone case / face of a watch / doors closing / an empty seat between / text messages buried in the archive / unsent birthday wishes / kitten with white fur on its forehead / your fingers / the absence of warmth / i spread open my palm / an action awfully similar to yours / a flailing hand / against uncut rope / how much of you have I turned into / in this final act of letting go / a desperation / a last grasp of hands / to hold onto / something in the distance

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The idea of Frozen Sea’s Ekphrastic-esque Issue was to write poems inspired by previous contributors of the magazine. When browsing through the magazine, Joshua Garcia’s poem (and prompt) interested me for its use of isolated images which then lead to an interaction, eventually uplifting the meaning of the poem. This was my attempt at something similar. The individual lines are supposed to represent each postcard.

Many thanks to the publishers Jackson D. Moorman and William Ward Butler for giving this little poem a home.