Last Words


over & over

I dwell on the last words

I spoke to you

backing away

from your shared porch

"You have to let me go"

words I never remember saying before

& did feel off

though my intention

only a brief away for a cheap

late takeout dinner

from the gas station

in order to prepare

for what was only ever

meant to be a short trip



Mark Danowsky is Editor-in-Chief of ONE ART: a journal of poetry. He is the author of As Falls Trees (NightBallet Press) and JAWN (Moonstone Press). A short collection Violet Flame is forthcoming from tiny wren lit. His collection Meatless is forthcoming from Plan B Press. Recent poems in Red Ogre Review, The New Verse News, Green Ink Review, The Broadkill Review, anti-heroin chic, Harpy Hybrid Review, Otoliths, and elsewhere.