After the Letters Were Lost

I’ll make it up. I’ll have to

imagine the you-before-you-died, who

wrote letters that used my full name, which

let me take up more space than I

know how to do alone. You taught me that

there’s no balm. I can’t believe

I’d know you if you called out.

Recent work by A. E. Clark has appeared or is forthcoming in Mid-American Review, Rust + Moth, Menacing Hedge, and Witness. Her chapbook Addresses Home is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press (2015). Her website: http://www.aeclarkwriter.com.