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PoetryMay 18, 2015 issue

Letter Written After Leaving Fresno

Michael GrayMay 06, 2015
I’ll return for one night, carrying you
papaya. Thickly cut. Resembling
 
driftwood scattered below the parking lot
I can see from Sacramento’s river bridges.
 
I’m taking I-5 south to 99. Cut tomato
skins roll in foil. My chest
 
drops like ocean swells I could only
see once a year. Don’t watch
 
me as I’m dying. Say Mt. Shasta’s sudden
rain fills the sky. A soul of mine
 
lost itself deep in Valley dirt. Maybe
it’ll escape tonight. Let me call it.
Michael Gray
Michael Gray, winner of a 2012 AWP Intro Journals Project Award and the 2013 Hot Street Emerging Writers Contest, was nominated for Best New Poets 2014, among other honors. His work has appeared in Poetry East West, Puerto del Sol, theNewerYork and other journals.
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