ampersand of the unremembered poem

– for Ann Menebroker

your absence is not on any map
let us start there

dancing to a picture of the sun
or writing by compass light

you showed us
we are better off chasing lines

to the symbol
at the end of every alphabet

your words pivoting
on the lever of our hearts

Paul Koniecki is a Dallas poet. He hosts the Vellum Ouroboros and Pandora’s Box Poetry Showcase. His poems have appeared online and internationally in Entropy, [oon]#8, Blue Max Review, Bold Monkey, Not Dead Yet, and many more. He was once picked for the John Ashbery Home School Residency and he has featured in Ireland for the Blackwater Poetry Festival. He met John Dorsey in a burlesque house in Milwaukee. Paul’s web address is paulkoniecki.wordpress.com.