No One Has Calculated the Half-Life of Grief

By Nicole Yurcaba

This summer, before you leave for Greece,
you will write The Lithuanian Devil
a response to his email invitation
to a writers workshop: Markasz,
I am leaving for Athens & I’m writing
to tell you what you may or may not
want to read: I love you & I will always
love you more than I could love
any other man & just as you’ll begin
to type I can’t imagine living life
without you your dead lover will guide
your index finger to the keyboard’s
DELETE key & you’ll watch the cursor
eat your words & your dead lover
will kiss your flushed cheek
                                     lips
                                     forehead
& he’ll whisper
                         It’s okay, Nika. I knew
                       you were lying to him
                       all along.

Audio recording of ‘No One Has Calculated the Half-Life of Grief’, written and read by Nicole Yurcaba

Nicole Yurcaba

Nicole Yurcaba (Нікола Юрцаба) is a Ukrainian American of Hutsul/Lemko origin. Her poems and reviews have appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Atlanta Review, Seneca Review, New Eastern Europe, Euromaidan Press, Chytomo, and The New Voice of Ukraine. Nicole holds an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University, teaches poetry workshops for Southern New Hampshire University, and is the Humanities Coordinator at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. She also serves as a guest book reviewer for Sage Cigarettes, Tupelo Quarterly, Colorado Review, and Southern Review of Books. Her poetry collection, The Pale Goth, is available from Alien Buddha Press.

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Photo credit: Jr Korpa