Ana Marie Boyd
The Rug
i don't know how to shake you off outside
over the rail of my balcony
make the topic of you fresh and new
so that you can get that luster back
return with the vibrance of your colors
once again.
so that my grief would be fresh
hanging on the balcony with clothespins
fresh like new feelings
and when people asked where you were
i could reply
that i had just lost you, seconds ago
and, "can you believe it?"
instead of what the answer actually is,
which is that i've been losing you the whole time.
Bio
Ana Marie Boyd is a poet, writer, and educator who lives in Eugene, Oregon. A graduate of the University of Oregon, she received her Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in English Literature, psychology, and world religions. Raised in a multiracial and multigenerational home, her writing proudly incorporates her Spanish-American roots and explores themes around family heritage, collective memory, grief/loss, mental health de-stigmatization, community-love, and reckoning. Her poetry has been published in literary journal All My Relations, and is featured in Bee Infinite Publishing's Future Splendor. Her work is also forthcoming in The Bitchin' Kitsch.