I bought a bottle of rye tonight / some dark salted chocolate, a plate of linguini / a seat for three hours after hearing you sigh from Chicago little lemon tongue floating / could I ever impress you when you are a perfect last name / when you know everyone sitting & every rotten part of me make the bed with us in it always / furnace / you make me furious / porter risotto at two in the morning / sherry vinegar / peanut butter / my hand hooked under your left ear or / what you called the worst part & the most comforting thing of all / sorting herb leaves / propping up a thought / could I arrive in time to catch your suitcases / the correct garnish for an unexpected delay / as if I’ve known for years how to carry this
a letter delivered by hand / copper patina / conducting me towards the wrong sleep ungated flight / unabated sweetness here the ice is not enough / I know to pour too generously / I know it’s only one or two more days this waiting / I know how I am greedy / what work starving takes
This selection comes from the poetry collection, a falling knifehasnohandle, available from YesYes Books. Purchase your copy here! Our curator for this selection is Tierney Bailey.
Emily O’Neill teaches writing and tends bar in Cambridge, MA. Her second poetry collection, a falling knifehasnohandle, was released with YesYes Books in fall of 2018 and was one of Publishers Weekly‘s ten most anticipated poetry titles of the season. Itwas also longlisted for the Julie Suk Award from Jacar Press. Her debut poetry collection, Pelican, was the inaugural winner of YesYes Books’ Pamet River Prize for women and genderqueer writers, as well as the winner of the 2016 Devil’s Kitchen Reading Series in Poetry. O’Neill is also the author of five chapbooks, most recently You Can’t Pick Your Genre (2nd edition Big Lucks, 2019). Her recent poems, stories, and essays have appeared in The Best Indie Lit New England Anthology, Cutbank, Catapult, Redivider, Salt Hill, and Washington Square, among many others. She holds a degree in the synesthesia of storytelling from Hampshire College.
Tierney Bailey is a Libra, a lover of science fiction and poetry, and studies Korean in her spare time. Currently, Tierney is an associate poetry editor at Sundress Publications, a copyeditor at Strange Horizons, and a freelance graphic designer. Tierney earned a Masters Degree in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College. Tierney is most easily found screaming into the void on Twitter as @ergotierney.
