I didn’t love him. He was sweet, teasing letters all winter long. Flirtation is a fragile art. Some loss is casual, some cuts deep. Horns don’t fall off, antlers do, a tusk means something had to die. He brought me back an ivory mask three inches high, with spiral horns, almond eyes, a pointed chin. He was very proud he knew how to recognize a fake, how to tell bone from ivory. All he had to do was take his lighter out, for bone will burn. What’s true survives a feeble flame, something I had yet to learn. As my mother puzzled how to string it from a cord it slipped and snapped one horn off, a clean break, nothing that she couldn’t glue. And while the epoxy set it slipped, and the other snapped off, too. She felt terrible. I did not mind very much, which was my clue. I’m sure he wouldn’t buy it now. Regret saves nothing. Elephants are matriarchal, mourn their dead. Their great slow hearts weigh fifty pounds. And when I hold this in my hand I miss my mother, not that man.
Susan Blackwell Ramsey's work has appeared, among other places, in The Southern Review, 32 Poems, Smartish Pace, and Best American Poetry; her book, A Mind Like This, won the Prairie Schooner Poetry Book Prize. She lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which actually does exist.
11/8 / Meet the Artist with visiting poet-in-residence Ruby Hansen Murray / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 6:00 pm EST / Free
11/8 / Poetry Reading with visiting poet-in-residence Ruby Hansen Murray and local poet Judy Ireland / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7:30 pm EST / Free
Get ready for Give Miami Day on November 16! As a newly established 501(c)(3), this will be our first time participating. If you’re able, please consider giving us your support. Check out our link here: www.givemiamiday.org/organization/Swwim.
Are you a SWWIMmer with literary news to share (publication/feature/award/book/book review)? We’d love to shout out your accomplishments in our Weekly Spotlight! Please email swwimmiami@gmail.com. (No DMs on any social media platforms, please.)
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and Bluesky for more updates—and visit our website to see past, present, and future readings & events.
**We do our best to preserve the integrity of each poem; however, due to programming limitations, some poems may read differently on a mobile phone and in certain browsers. For best viewing, use Chrome on a desktop/laptop.
What Dana Kinsey said. The soundwork is fabulous.
You had me with deep wisdom and subtle rhyme but crushed my heart with that last line. 🔥