I’ve Been Collecting This to Tell You

Billet-Doux

19 b i l l e t - D o u x love, Dear, Darling, Duck, honey, sweetheart, etc.: it’s some strange folding of time, this muggy october, air conditioner still running, though the leaves fall around the feet of the trees like a dress at the end of the night. i haven’t changed much, though it’s sweet of you to say so. still the same cracks in the ceiling. Meat gone bad in the fridge. Knit me together with bones and sinews. The screen door gasps when i open it, each metal tendon tight. i can’t gussy this up for you—i do miss you. All gone awry, i won’t even send this on the back of some postcard with a blissfully false scene of fall on the front. ...