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      April 12, 2025Francesca Lia BlockSpring Lament

      this spring is like that man in the white
      shirt
      radiating heat even from his thumbs
      standing so close we steal each other’s air
      a wedding band glaring on his finger
       
      the air is overstuffed with white
      blossoms
      oversweet
      just as my head feels too full of words
      and there’s a rawness in my chest a hope
      mixed with resignation
      that this will be my final chance
      for poetry and …
       
      winter was easier in some respects
      watching the branches bare
      in too much pain to feel desire
      shivered in an empty tub
       
      spring—like the words “my marriage is trying
      to find a graceful way to die”
      making me realize there’s still a thing
      that beats in there
      and also wishing
      thump-thump-thump
      it had never learned this fact
       

      from #41 - Fall 2013

      Francesca Lia Block

      “Poetry is the most direct channel to what I’m feeling. If I’m feeling an agitation or upset or anything, I can go straight to a poem and I can feel that emotion literally just channeling out of my body into the poem and I feel lighter. And I’m not saying that the poems are so great—I don’t know how they translate to other people necessarily, but it’s a very cathartic experience in a very immediate way.”