We watched the eurovision that night and live-voted
it was my first time, and I remember you telling me
that I was a disgrace to Ireland because my potatoes
were soft and grew sprouts. We made cardamom
vodka and drank the whole bottle, chewing the seeds
and I don’t remember who won or who you voted for
only my head in your lap and your eyes and falling asleep
on the couch, the only time I’d ever touched you.
There was another night, a concert, you were the second
guy I knew who had an Ani Difranco collection as impressive
as my own and I think I drank too much beer that night too
and I think you played with my hair. And now we’re friends
on facebook but you never write or respond to my posts
and it must be that email I wrote to you once, telling you
about my novel and how I wrote it for you. But I still
remember lying on your bed and staring at the ceiling
and reading you poetry and the only wish I have some-
times is that I’d kissed you then.
Rena Rossner is a graduate of the Writing Seminars program at The Johns Hopkins University, Trinity College Dublin and McGill University. She has written extensively for The Jerusalem Report and The Jerusalem Post. Her poetry and short fiction has been published or is forthcoming from Poetica Magazine, MiPoesias, Ascent Aspirations, The 22 Magazine, Fade Poetry Journal, and others. Her cookbook “Eating the Bible” is available from Skyhorse Publishing.