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VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW
Contemporary Poetry and Poetics



 
 

~REBECCA DUNHAM~




LETTER-ELEGY



 

All I Remember— 
                            the skirt of your swimsuit
poppy-red, a shiny polyester petal
fresh & loose: thick clouds of tanning oil

exhaled from your body's pockets:
the heat: the sun's white coin blistering
the sky, the pool fence like gold foil:
your steaming flesh laid out full & brown as

back to me, you wade into the pool's
shallow end: glassy bubbles rise like tumors:
your swimsuit's bright bloom skims
the water's surface to hover, mosquito-like—

cold water flat as a mirror, & your back.
To me, you are always moving away. 
 

© by Rebecca Dunham
 



 
 

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