Shannon Elizabeth Hardwick

AFTER AN IMAGINARY 32 YEARS OF MARRIAGE TO MY EX-HUSBAND

In the last letter I was told I could not pick you any flowers.
I could not visit between the hours of 2 and 5. Your favorite
hour to test the waters of your faith was the settling hours:
your wife settling in her chair, the sun slinking off her dress,
your son washing the earth off skinned knees. Wasn't this
the most honest thing you could remember? Not the broken
ribs or bruised shins, not the half empty decanter, not your
wife's swinging hips, so defiant to keep moving. I brought you
your favorite arrowhead, instead. I thought it could point you
in the right direction toward an age without your father.

Shannon Elizabeth Hardwick received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Her manuscript was a finalist for the Levis Prize in poetry and her chapbook was recently released by Thrush Press. She is an associate poetry editor for The Boiler Journal. Her work has appeared in the following: 3:AM Magazine, Night Train, Versal, Sugar House Review, Four Way Review, among others.