3.01.2011

Stay
by Michelle Elvy


I keep you here
behind the wild green of my eyes
in the sticky black of my lashes
under the chewed pink of my nails
in the dry back of my throat
behind the bitter red of my tongue 

And sometimes when your 
tastesmellfeel 
lingers in my world
I think you are real
and then I wish I could 
unsift you through my fingers
back to when you were more than
ashbonedust
‒ back before you
floated away on the full moon’s tide





Michelle Elvy lives and writes on a sailboat. Her professional lives have included teacher, historian, translator, editor, and chief wrangler at a software consulting company. She has published stories about children, food, faraway places, motorcycling, dreaming big, and the kindness of strangers. Her recent short fiction has appeared in a number of online literary journals, and you can find her writing at Glow Worm, flashing at 52|250, listening at VOICES, or sailing on Momo. Michelle is presently in New Zealand, but her latitude and longitude are subject to change. Her love for elephants, however, will never change.  

2 comments:

  1. Excellent delivery of original content. Loved this in every possible way. It fires off at blurring speed and hits the target dead center. Wow!

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  2. this reminds me of my own loss. gorgeous, full of senses, the way it is to live in this world. peace...

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