‘I Text You at 5pm’ by Eloisa Amezcua

The library’s closed and I say,
Isn’t that lame? What I mean is
all the books are shells and it hurts

to be a shell. It’ll open again
tomorrow, you say, which reminds me
how much I liked when we’d whisper

even if no one else was home.
I say, Want to get a drink? But you say,
No. I stop trying to convince you.

This lighting makes me feel
ugly so it’s best I don’t see you
anyway. Everyone in my family thinks

someone else has a problem and now
it’s my turn. I hate drinking alone. It’s not
the being alone I mind, but the knowing

that I don’t eat the olive at the bottom
of the martini glass and you do.

From issue #1: autumn/winter 2015

About the Author
Eloisa Amezcua is an Arizona native. She completed her MFA at Emerson College and works in Cambridge, MA. She’s received scholarships from the NY State Summer Writers Institute, the Bread Loaf Translator’s Conference and the Vermont College of Fine Arts Post-Graduate Workshop.