Acceptance

ANTHONY AURRICHIO

the tornado ripped through my bed again and after waking desolate and cold i resolved to seek shelter in your warmth.

take this grief and let it float inside you, you said. the wind cannot take it away so long as you let it carry you too.

so when it returned the next night i rose and let the gale make a ghost of my sheets as i observed my soul from a radical view.

i peered upon my reincarnated afterimages once swiftly born and lost to the unwitting eye now twirling in the room turned courtyard below

and bestowed immortality upon each and every one.

Anthony Aurrichio works at a NYC non-profit called DoSomething.org, where he oversees all messaging communications. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY where he writes poetry in his spare time.

Anna Iagur

January 2021

ANTHONY AURRICHIO

i can watch six straight hours of british game shows without once going to the bathroom when i rise to leave the walls breathe a sigh of relief behind me one of the perks of being in this bathroom is the medicine cabinet mirror is perpendicular to the main mirror so that when i was younger i could get lost pulling it open to see myself staring back at myself staring back at myself staring back at myself mary was right when she said all eternity is in the moment because here i am still grabbing my mirrors still pushing them away watching the pages of my reflection flip closed until only one remains and as i return to the television and surf the channels for something new a boy says we are infinite and i hear we are frozen

Anna Iagur

Someday I’ll Love Anthony Aurrichio

ANTHONY AURRICHIO

when you were told you could be anything, you were so certain it meant you could be everything. take a deep breath, anthony. now, look around. your shoes are ten steps behind you. your shadow doesn’t follow you; it merely grows.

for as long as you can remember, you’ve wanted so badly to be seen even if it meant burning under the magnifying glass. you’ve spent too much of your time apologizing to everyone but yourself. anthony, won’t you accept yourself? close your eyes and listen. balance comes from the ears.

won’t you accept yourself? don’t answer yet. here is why i love you most: at one point or another, every color has been your favorite color. and in each, you’ve laid in its deepest shade. and that? anthony, that is everything.

Anna Iagur