"I Kissed Leah" by Donald Pasmore

-With a line by Jean Amery

and I have the Polaroid to prove it. Language broke down: she thought it was sweet

when I said I love you but I meant I want to be you. We lived in different realities. She was

surrounded by harsh smoke and a line of naked people spewing white lies—:it is

not good to have no home:—Watch people watch her like a disaster they can’t

look away from. When I’m exiled from my body I want her to be my ersatz

for home. I want to learn her language and for a moment believe it could be mine.

Donald is a sophomore English major at Salisbury University who has been published or has poems forthcoming in The Scarab Literary Magazine and The Shore. He grew up in Delaware and aspires to earn a PhD and become a college professor. His other interests include philosophy, tabletop games, and amateur woodworking.