Gnashing Teeth Publishing

| words that get in your teeth

Letter to My Mom’s Ex-Boyfriend – Anastasia DiFonzo

Letter to My Mom’s Ex-Boyfriend

 

You wouldn’t want me now

that I’m almost thirty and grown

 

to half your size. You loved me

as your lover’s young daughter,

the outlawed apple you ate alone.

 

It would have been different

had I dined with you, growing

 

larger with each bite.

Maybe I’d have been as much

more-than-bone as I am now,

 

as my mother always has been.

I’ve always wanted you

 

to be my dad. Even now,

as I write a formal list

of all the reasons to keep you

 

the length of the law away

from me, I just want to hug you

 

without considering the shape

of my nipples as they graze

your chest, or the softness

 

of my voice as I say

I miss you. I love you.

 

I mean this

as a daughter

to her dad.

Bio – Anastasia DiFonzo (she/her) is a San Diego based poet with a cat named Klaus. Her debut chapbook, A Certain Serenity, is out now with Puna Press. Currently, her work can be found in Olney Magazine, Serotonin Poetry, Tempered Runes Press, and elsewhere. When she’s not writing, she can be found hugging her cat, drinking coffee, and/or staring blankly into the abyss. Feel free to contact her at anastasiadifonzo.com, or on Instagram @anastasia.difonzo or Twitter @anmidaludi

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