That Crumpled
It was a tryst. It was a trip.
Difficult fiction. Certain collapse.
I do this all the time.
Collapsed. Back together.
No stable structure.
I collapsed. I collapse.
No one was hurt.
But I had to collapse.
Slow Return
It was a tryst with a woman,
supposedly.
It was a rush,
maybe.
It had tunnels that led
from inside out into,
probably.
This is clad in lore and embellishment,
but the facade tumbled along that long,
long road—two kids, partner, furniture,
mementos in storage. I collapsed.
They did, too.
The façade.
This façade.
I had to be rebuilt from the ground up,
and while portions could be saved
almost everything else had to be
reconstructed.
Closed for so many years,
sleepy,
vanishing,
nobody.
Now, bare, I move,
I know what’s happening
downstairs.
There are windows!
A door.
Life.
Magic.
People want that.
[FROM: “Slow Return for a Former Speakeasy That Crumpled,” by Elizabeth A. Harris, .
Temptation
I’m here, ever-
present. Pulling hard,
I resisted,
but gave in.
The first change
was to use the word:
You.
Succumb To
I’m here
to persuade you.
The urge, pulling
hard.
I resisted, but
couldn’t.
I gave in
to the filling
up, the fallen under,
the spiked craving.
The half-tender,
perfect: if.
You could.
You don’t want to.
You could.
You want to.
[FROM: “You Can Succumb to a Sticky Temptation,” by Melissa Clark, .
Heather Aimee O’Neill teaches creative writing at CUNY Hunter College and is the Assistant Director of the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop. Her most recent collection of poetry, Obliterations, is co-authored with Jessica Piazza and forthcoming by Red Hen Press. Her poetry chapbook Memory Future won the Gold Line Press 2011 Chapbook Award and an excerpt from her novel When The Lights Go On Again was published as a chapbook by Wallflower Press in 2013. Her work has been shortlisted for the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner-Wisdom Award and has appeared in numerous literary journals. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her two sons.
Jessica Piazza is the author of two full-length poetry collections published by Red Hen Press: Interrobang–winner of the AROHO 2011 To the Lighthouse Poetry Prize and the 2013 Balcones Poetry Prize – and Obliterations (with Heather Aimee O’Neill, forthcoming). She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California and is currently a contributing editor for The Offending Adam and a screener for the National Poetry Series. She co-founded Bat City Review in Austin, TX, Gold Line Press in Los Angeles and Speakeasy Poetry Series in New York City. She teaches for the Writing Program at USC and the online MFA program at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Learn more at www.jessicapiazza.com.
