Christina Strigas
I wrote you all the things
I can not tell your hazel eyes.
I do not want to even look at you
how unromantic of a poet like me.
I wrote about—
that time when Little Wing
played in the 70’s basement
of Lily’s house on McKenzie Street.
We did not know each other then
you were at some other party
playing spin the bottle, starting
to brew your player moves,
charming chess pieces.
I spent my love on you
like a gambler.
I can’t
I don’t
want to be that girl
That writes so many letters to her
ex-boyfriends
ex-lovers
ex-husbands
where they all have a conversation.
They all have a substitute teacher
when love calls.
My ex was a teacher
I killed myself for you|
like a murderer.
I can’t
I won’t
wish for you to visit me
refresh my six-year-old memory
when love stumbles
you sometimes forget to get up.
I pretend your wife is dead.
My reality has no filters.
***
Christina Strigas’s work has appeared in Feminine Collective, Neon Mariposa Magazine, Rhythm & Bones, Thimble Lit Magazine, The Temz Review, as well as these following literary magazines in the upcoming months: Pink Plastic House Journal, and Twist in Time Literary Magazine. Christina’s poetry book, Love & Vodka, was recommended by CBC News and made the Ultimate Canadian Poetry List. Christina has written two novels for MuseItUp Publishing. She is a full-time teacher, teaching ESL to adults at McGill University, and French at a public elementary school for The Montreal English School Board. She lives in Montreal with her husband and two children.