Dear Life by Maya C. Popa

which is how this works—you fish in open water ready to be wounded on what you reel in

Dear Life

by Maya C. Popa

---

I can’t undo all I have done to myself,
what I have let an appetite for love do to me. 

I have wanted all the world, its beauties 
and its injuries; some days, 
I think that is punishment enough.
Often, I received more than I’d asked,

which is how this works—you fish in open water
ready to be wounded on what you reel in.

Throwing it back was a nightmare.
Throwing it back and seeing my own face

as it disappeared into the dark water.

Catching my tongue suddenly on metal,
spitting the hook into my open palm.

Dear life: I feel that hook today most keenly.

Would you loosen the line—you’ll listen 

if I ask you, 

if you are the sort of life I think you are. 

First published in Poetry Magazine (2020).