Love Pathology

By Angela Sucich

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because some words should never sit together 
like your name 
                     & forgiveness

I split the syllables, groan out two
vowels coated with acidity
the fission that heats my pot of alchemy 

because Euripides saw a sorceress 
repay the measure of her furious 
love in equal amount

I stir our simmered speech, broken-down 
connective tissue till we are beyond 
recognition 

because skin that once flushed now burns 
because we raise red and hive heat
because we fume like mercury
because love changes form 
because I am past curses but just as devoted 

I keep simmering, a kind of company 

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Angela Sucich holds a Ph.D. in Medieval Literature from the University of Washington. Her chapbook, Illuminated Creatures (Finishing Line 2023), won the 2022 New Women's Voices Chapbook Competition. Her poems and short prose have appeared in such journals as Nimrod International Journal, Cave Wall, Atlanta Review, and Whale Road Review. She was honorably mentioned for the 2021 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry and the 2020 Francine Ringold Award. 

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• 12/12 / Poetry Reading and Conversation with visiting poet-in-residence Nicole Cooley + local writer Caroline Cabrera / The Gallery at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7-8:30 pm EST / Free

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