Each letter a promise and the careful
hyphen an audition for responsible
possibilities. Was it for work or love
she scored Jodie-Ann into the blue?
Worn edges thumbed in a warm pocket,
then excavated and discarded.
Jodie-Ann a password, key, clue
to infinite futures shuffled underfoot.
Lost gift, Jodie-Ann, who could have
walked your dog, babysat your child,
drove you to Vancouver for your share
of the gas. You won’t know what it
could have been, careless with her
might-have-beens, whether Jodie-Ann
kissed softly or with teeth. Nine characters
to say it is hope you so casually abandon.
♦
Roxanna Bennett is the author of The Uncertainty Principle (Tightrope Books, 2014) and has written for numerous publications including The National Post, xoJane, Bitch Magazine, Gender Focus and Boxx Magazine. Her poetry has appeared in The Puritan, Cosmonauts Avenue, CV2, Slice Literary Magazine, and many other publications in North America and the U.K. She was a finalist in Broken Pencil’s Indie Writer’s Deathmatch 2015.
She can be found at: https://roxanna.contently.com/ or twitter @roxannabennett
♦♦♦
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