Zygal: H-formed as in
yokes, unions. Ours
xanthic against a rusty
wall and ten rungs tall, the
very ladder of our decade. Untether that wood, your word.
Take back better, worse,
sickness, health.
Remove the ring. I won’t ask
questions: why, who, when.
Pick necessities: enamel dutch
oven, Miyazaki films,
New York photos. And step down.
May you descend
leaving no marks. We both
know love’s eclipsed by rotted
joints, that misaligned angles
interfere with anniversaries.
Honor the splinters, ache of
gradual ascent, the view, just
forget the full circle unless
end means beginning. I release
dusk’s hot promises. Seek
clarity. You’re no longer my
breath. May these lines
ax, split, divide, annul. Amen.
Abecedarian to Unbind by Christine Stewart
Christine Stewart-Nuñez is the author of several poetry collections: Snow, Salt, Honey (2012); Keeping Them Alive (2011); Postcard on Parchment (2008); Unbound & Branded (2006); and The Love of Unreal Things (2005). Her essay “An Archeology of Secrets” won the Fifteenth Annual Creative Nonfiction Prize at the Briar Cliff Review and was included by David Brooks as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2012. Her work has appeared in such magazines as Arts & Letters, Calyx, North American Review, Prairie Schooner and Shenandoah. She teaches creative writing at South Dakota State University.