Of all
people I
should be more
sympathetic, should
be kinder to
The Woman Who Loved
Wrong—after
all, I have
been her,
sitting next
to a dark window
on the plane,
with the shadow
of the plane
lost in the ocean
with the person
I loved
lost
to all kindness. But
I can’t
get past her picture (not
her fault), how she
is smiling
and a fingertip of white hair
on her forehead (not
her fault)
shows she didn’t touch
the color up
and blue is all
around her like a
halo, and she’s
happy, and I
hate her
hate her
hate her
because, then,
she didn’t know
because
she wanted
to be loved
because it’s too hard
after all
to be so
sad.
Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco lives in California's Central Valley, and co-edits One Sentence Poems. Her chapbook Various Lies is available from Finishing Line Press.