A Poem on Virtual Connection, from To The People

A poem from issue 03 of To The People, a zine by YTTP Studios

fingers crossed your phone survives this love
by Demeter Appel-Riehle

my friends hold me with hands like stars

sew a heartline across the country 

bury it in 

a you got this in the groupchat

no, really, have a bite of my food on the lunchbreak

here, let me pull up your birth chart

did you know all cancer risings’ mouths look the same?

whisper care into every 

breath like honeysuckle

from the passenger seat in a car on the 405

to a text thread with a home still in iowa

i want my fire to be soft enough 

to fit in a forever stamp

to package for them & send 

across the country to soothe 

a scalding headline, a bitter evening

to cup the grief

i cannot ladle out 

of my own stomach

to write one good poem 

for every heartbeat i can hear

in the other room

when it’s too hard to write of 

anything else

but the click of pipes turning on & a roaring wave &

sorrow

when hope goes out like a limelight

& my mind goes out for a walk so long

i think it will never come back 

i remember the sweetness only we can touch

brittle & blazing

and still warm enough to survive this year

a promise to drink more water

listen to more music

sing louder

to love hard enough to keep breathing

Read more poetry here