3rd STORY
The house was on a beach
in Columbia
Beautiful, old,
surrounded by no one
Our love in isolation became
disconsolate, the house,
malevolent, a dark soul
with thunderclaps in its eves
Every night a tropical storm,
another fight
When the door slammed, something cracked
the house loosened and
shifted at its core
I had time just to regret any final words
before I flew out onto the balcony
You were stepping into your pick-up truck
If you want to know, I cried your name,
twice, before the railing gave way
I do not recall hitting the earth
I was going to say, “come back!”
It was weeks before I could walk again,
years before I could say your name.
Sarah Goodwin-Nguyen is a writer
on the island of Key West. Her
poetry and fiction has been in Secret
of Salt, Rag Shock, BigCityLit,
2RiverView, Stray
Dog, Wicked Alice, Long Shot,
Megaera, Melic Review, and the
Absinthe Literary Review, among
others. She is the author of a
book-length travel guide about Key
West, and reviews books for
Publisher's Weekly and Tribes.
www.sarahscribbles.bravehost.com
Sarah Goodwin-Nguyen