In a dream I have your handwriting, I dream I cannot stop writing close.
At night in bed I listen for my name: Close. I rename myself over and over—
Closer. Closest. Girl-You-Can’t-Get-Over. Girl I can’t get over you. Your name:
Further. Farther. Lose the r and your name is Father. You feel more than far away
you feel gone. Like him you have gone away and like my mother I wait. In the distance
a column of rain. The rain creates distance between me and your voice. How would you say:
Close? What would you do if I say in a dream I have your handwriting?
Notes: “You feel more than far away you feel gone” is borrowed from Tyree Daye’s poem “Don’t Say Love Just Signal”. “In the distance a column of rain” is borrowed from Julia Koets’ poem “On Distance”.
Audrey Rose earned her BA in Mathematics and completed her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of South Florida (USF). When it comes to sweets, she enjoys cookie dough more than actual cookies, but to maintain a balanced diet, she eats both. She has guest lectured at USF and served as an editor for Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art. Currently, she reads for Epiphany magazine. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was selected for the 2024 Best New Poets anthology. More of her poetry appears in SLAB, Sweet Lit, Arts Coast, Halfway Down the Stairs, Good River Review, Epiphany, wildness, and Poetry. The duplex is a poetic form created by Jericho Brown. “You feel more than far away you feel gone” is borrowed from Tyree Daye’s poem “Don’t Say Love Just Signal.” “In the distance a column of rain” is borrowed from Julia Koets’ poem “On Distance.”
