Simon Montgomery

There’s Something I Forgot to Tell You

I’m dancing with the handle and you’re dancing
with him         and that’s okay—the handle’s

got rhythm. The door to the place

is locked          like some past we could have
sealed and I’m flat underneath the solitude 

of it, wonder if I’m being kept in or kept

at all. The walls are    pushing in and out,
sweating away the wallpaper. I’ve learned

to prefer the present.   I’m coming around

on the future. Any day now,   I’ll water
those plants prepared for death

on the windowsill. Their leaves as brown 

as the cashmere jacket still glued
to the corner chair, put in timeout.

As this night grows to light,

what’s learned? That even growth requires
loss                  every now and then?

That if a bird could     fly

without its wings,
it would?

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Simon Montgomery is an aspiring poet based in Atlanta, Georgia. His work made the top twenty percent of submissions for the Francine Ringold Awards at the Nimrod International Journal in 2021. He is currently studying creative writing at Georgia State University.