Middle Marriage

by Abigail Michelini

Time splices our years together

in quirky remix as we finger the fray,

cage questions behind our teeth:

who wins the award death

grants to show we made it?

Unable to undo the circles

staining our bedside table,

the last sip sitting still in every

abandoned glass. Your ears ringing

with age and yes, the same work

stories I've already told you,

stored as a careful case for me,

for us, stacked against any forgotten

good we accidentally oust.

---

Abigail Michelini teaches writing at Northampton Community College. Her work can be found in Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Speckled Trout Review, The Main Street Rag, Superpresent, and Whale Road Review, among other publications. She was the 2023 artist-in-residency for the East 40 in Bethlehem, PA, the result of which is a poetry walk anyone can explore in person or on her website. Her debut chapbook, BRACE, will be released in May 2025 from Thirty West Publishing House. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing with her kids and running Pennsylvania roads. Find her at www.abigailmichelini.com.