I gave you Corinthian columns
& a quilt of stars, fresh water & a room
with a view, freeze-dried bloodworms
& a miniature banana leaf
above a bed of rocks from Jupiter’s
most volcanic moon,
yet you laid on that leaf, aching
for a plastic cup with a punctured lid,
refusing to puff your chest at
your reflection. You were heartbroken
for a home that would not love you back,
though I gave you enough
room to dance like a fan
in a beautiful woman’s hand. You told me
that I, of all people, should know
that money cannot buy reasons
to live & let the bloodworms seep
into Io’s rocks. By morning,
you were an empty ribbon
suspended mid-water, as if in the night
you had forgotten how to swim.
***
Noreen Ocampo (she/her) is a Filipina writer and poet based in Atlanta. Her work appears in {m}aganda magazine, Taco Bell Quarterly, and Hobart, among others, and she studies at Emory University. Say hello on Twitter @maybenoreen!
image: MM Kaufman
Rejection Letters 