declared on a bunk bed
in a cabin by a river
your voice the sweetest
sound of poison
(I cannot forget)
even in the heat of summer
you held me closer
so how can you ask me
if I have met anyone
when I can barely crawl
into something resembling
moving on

Melissa Sussens is a veterinarian/poet living in South Africa. Her first poem was published at age fourteen in Teen Zone Magazine, for which she won a Chris Brown CD. She’s trying to get back into it.