Death is one moment, and life is so many of them

Tennessee Williams

Alex Stolis

I want to call my last friend,

score some heroin; forget

he’s locked up

getting spin-dried

& washed clean.

It’s summer,

or fall

or some other season

that hasn’t been named yet.

My heart that isn’t

my heart

that isn’t beating

isn’t still

is standing on a cliff

& the CD changer changes

from The Doors

to The Boss

to Lady Day

& the phone line buzzes

then hums

then beeps.

I can’t see the sky

can’t hear the roar of the ocean

can’t feel the end

of the rope

& the bourbon turns another shade

of uncertainty

& a bird sings

& I’m ready

to not be ready.

Alex Stolis has had poems published in numerous journals. Two full length collections Pop. 1280, and John Berryman Died Here were released by Cyberwit and available on Amazon. His work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Piker’s Press, Ekphrastic Review, Louisiana Literature Review, Burningwood Literary Journal, and Star 82 Review. His chapbook, Postcards from the Knife-Thrower's Wife, was released by Louisiana Literature Press in 2024, RIP Winston Smith from Alien Buddha Press 2024, and The Hum of Geometry; The Music of Spheres, 2024 by Bottlecap Press. He lives in upstate New York with his partner, poet Catherine Arra.