Michelle Ortega
As if
In one spot, the floor dips like a dimple in the asphalt that gathers rain.
The house had sunk in many ways, many places over its one hundred years.
My voice resonates in that one spot as if in a cathedral, as if I have perfect pitch, as if he never
wrapped his hand around my throat (right there in my dining room). As if his thumbprint in my skin isn't real,
doesn't make me cough at the memory all these years later.
Bio
Michelle Ortega's writing has appeared in numerous publications, online and in print, including Tweetspeak Poetry, Casual (an e-book), Tiferet Journal, Exit 13, Shrew LitMag, Contemporary Haibun Online, Snapdragon: A Journal of Healing and Platform Review, among others. Her first chapbook, Don't Ask Why, was released in August 2020 (Seven Kitchens Press) and her microchapbook, Tissue Memory, is forthcoming with Porkbelly Press (2021).