Poem of the Week

Elizabeth Estella is a poet, memoirist, and author of creative nonfiction. A graduate of Columbia University, she received an MFA in poetry from New York University. She lives with her daughter in Paterson, New Jersey.

Alimony

by Elizabeth Estella

There was talk of it being a friendship
at first. People saying emotional affairs
are the same as bodies, then everyone forgiving
them, maybe because they are terribly
beautiful and had endured so many babies
and carpets. I heard a crazy laundress 
at the bar saying what everyone was afraid of,
which is that there’s no hope for the rest of us.

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