After Our Elopement

 

FROM THE ONLINE CHAPBOOK THE JOHN AND MIM POEMS

After Our Elopement

Miriam Levine

The statue mossy with verdigris,

icy wind off the Charles

buffeting the frill of my hat,

tight buds of magnolias

on Marlborough Street

with their unborn blossoms.

I remember shivering, drawing in,

the slippery chill

of the lining of my pink suit,

our nervous laughter,

your warm hand

and the fine black hair

on the back of your wrist.

But what had I done to my

dear lonely life? Fear

altered the space

in my chest, intimation

of love’s cross that would become

too heavy to lift.

The John and Mim Poems
Miriam Levine
2026

The John and Mim Poems is a portrait of a marriage and Miriam Levine’s gift to you.