Rachelle Toarmino is a writer, editor, and educator from Niagara Falls, New York. She is the founding editor in chief of Peach Mag, and is the author of the poetry collection That Ex (Big Lucks Books, 6/9/2020, PRE-ORDER) and the chapbooks Feel Royal (b l u s h, 2019) and Personal & Generic (PressBoardPress, 2016). Her writing has appeared in Cosmonauts Avenue, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Shabby Doll House, and other places online and in print, and has been anthologized in The Cosmonauts Avenue Anthology and My Next Heart: New Buffalo Poetry. She lives in Buffalo, where she works on the staff of Arts Services Initiative and as a teaching artist at Just Buffalo Literary Center.
Mutual aid projects the author encourages you to support:
- WNY Arts Emergency Relief Fund
- Whose Corner Is It Anyway?
- SWOP Behind Bars: Book Requests For Incarcerated Sex Workers
- People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) Buffalo
Fight
The one that’s made of time.
We took turns naming things,
which is the traditional way
lovers sharpen one another.
Point: Remember when I drove your car
for you so you could dry your nails
out the window?
What do you call that?
Counterpoint: Somewhere in the world
a snake gets lost in an endless
tunnel of its own skin after shedding
doesn’t quite go according to plan.
Nobody knows how to feel
about it. What is prey?
Well, what is plunder?
A stillness goes viral as the room fractures
into danger between us.
Come on, it’s late, you say finally,
and with such sudden gentleness
I mistake you for dawn.
If You Love It So Much
For Layne and Mark
Editor’s note: We recommend that readers view this poem either horizontally or on desktop due to formatting
If you love it so much why don’t you be open with it
about your personal boundaries
and respect its boundaries
in return?
If you love it so much why don’t you give it a healthy amount
of space to pursue its own interests
and come back to it refreshed
and ready to share your experiences?
If you love it so much why don’t you create some new
memories together?
If you love it so much why don’t you develop a realistic view
of long-term monogamy
and communicate your expectations
but also your hopes with it?
If you love it so much why don’t you be careful with your words
when quarreling with it?
If you love it so much why don’t you address problems
and misunderstandings
with it immediately?
If you love it so much why don’t you give it honest,
specific compliments?
If you love it so much why don’t you be fair and generous
in moments of conflict?
If you love it so much why don’t you mindfully recommit to it
every day?
If you love it so much why don’t you make an effort
to play together once in a while
instead of emphasizing
perpetual productivity?
If you love it so much why don’t you set aside one evening
per week for a date night to keep
the romance fresh?
If you love it so much why don’t you use we language
and not me language
when discussing future plans
and aspirations?
If you love it so much why don’t you let it bend the corners
of your pages until your mouth
is made of stars?
why don’t you unfold into it
like you’re bringing it the news?
why don’t you wait for it
the way a throat waits,
ready with syllables?
why don’t you take off your shadow
for it to wear like silk?
If You Love Attention Make Some Noise
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Emotion Stands For Electronic Motion
I thought
that you’d
come back
to me
I thought
that you’d
you’d
come back
to me