Brighton Beach
sea-worn glass smoothed by ocean mouth
we wandered into your opening for
so long we forgot streetlight curfew
the gunmetal tide an invitation
i swam in the hot sludge of summer
swirling styrofoam oily with hair gel
and the grit of defiant refuse
i refused
the heat between my legs a warning
my kindling was my own heart
little lit matches held
chamber by chamber
This selection comes from the book, little ditch, available from ABOVE/GROUND PRESS. Purchase your copy here! Our curator for this selection is Kelly Lorraine Andrews.
Melissa Eleftherion is a writer, a librarian, and a visual artist. She is the author of field guide to autobiography (The Operating System, 2018), & nine chapbooks, including little ditch (above/ground press, 2018) & trauma suture (above/ground press, 2020). Born & raised in Brooklyn, Melissa created, developed, and currently co-curates The Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange with Elise Ficarra. She now lives in Northern California where she manages the Ukiah Library, teaches creative writing, & curates the LOBA Reading Series. Recent work is available at http://www.apoetlibrarian.wordpress.com.
Kelly Lorraine Andrews is an assistant managing editor for the American Economic Association and an MFA graduate from the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of the chapbooks Sonnets in Which the Speaker Is on Display (Stranded Oak Press, forthcoming 2019), The Fear Archives (Two of Cups Press, 2017), My Body Is a Poem I Can’t Stop Writing (Porkbelly Press, 2017), I Want To Eat So Many Kinds of Cake With You and Mule Skinner (both out from Dancing Girl Press). Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in [PANK], Prick of the Spindle, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere. You can read more about her past and future publications and look at a slideshow of her cats at her website.
