Once

Will Russo
| poetry

 

Once is the number of times someone loved me.
I saw my only love through window screens.

I only saw my love. Through window screens,
A noticing the way of others’ bodies.

In noticing the way of others, bodies
Carried him into my waking life.

To carry him into my waking life,
I made a kind of theft in luring.

I made that kind of theft in luring
The wind to occupy my empty fingers.

The wind that occupied my empty fingers
Withdrew, made of me a child when it left.

I was not a child when he left me.
Once is the number of times someone loved me.

Will Russo received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2020. He is a Poetry Editor at Great Lakes Review, and his work has appeared in journals such as Berkeley Poetry Review, Faultline, and Newtown Literary, which nominated him for the Pushcart Prize.

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