"Just Once" by Emma McCoy
I pick at the white linen tablecloth just a little
and I do not meet your eyes just yet though I want to
because I am not ready for that yet though
we talked on the phone just last week and the most
intense part should be over right?
when I came to your wedding and you came
to mine and I cheered with the force of a thunderstorm
and your face was like the rain breaking
and now not one but two decades have passed
and I cannot meet your eyes because I cannot
say how deeply I love you and God
says deep calls to deep at the roar of the waterfalls
and I say my soul calls to yours at the whisper
of the sidewalk corner when we walk
to different cars and look back once at different times
now let me say this once I love you in every way I can
Emma McCoy is a poet and essayist with love for the old stories. She is the assistant editor of Whale Road Review, co-editor of Driftwood, and poetry reader for the Minison Project. She is the author of 鈥淚n Case I Live Forever鈥� (2022), and she has poems published in places like Flat Ink, Paddler Press, and Jupiter Review. Catch her on Twitter: @poetrybyemma