Mantis 21 (Summer 2023)
New Poetry
Alicia Shupe
Part of Me
Wishes
that it were only May
twenty-five,
and we had another month
of life,
in this city.
Another month to walk
in the dark
‘round the city seat
at night.
To play full-moon
Peter Rollins
bingo,
and drink, wonder
whiskey or stout.
To laugh and think,
“Wasn’t it only yesterday
you didn’t know my name?”
Part of me wishes
we’d lived beyond July
five,
unknown days
lived in
unknown spaces.
Soundless,
empty nights
stretched
endlessly
across grassy skies,
against too far stars
and
silent
highways, east
to hometown,
goodbye
love.
ALICIA SHUPE is a 2nd year PhD at Illinois State University. She enjoys writing poetry, fiction, and some criticism. Her work can be seen in Confluence, Cardinal Sins Magazine, and the Grassroots Writing Research Journal. When she’s not writing for publication, Alicia can be found watching online videos of huskies whose bark sounds like a human speaking.