PRISM OF AIR by MICHAEL MINASSIAN

Wayne and I slide into a narrow booth
at a tavern near Riverside Drive.

Outside, raindrops slip
down the window panes
like a slick skim of light.

Wayne tells me about the last time
he saw his ex-wife:
soaked by rain, he remembers
her eccentric eyes,
wet kisses in the dark,
the silence of her long goodbye—

when she finally spoke
her words hung in the air
like a stiletto—
bold face italics
sharp with sound—

all his senses squeezed
into a prism
refracting the air,
bending his breath
into a double-edged knife.

MICHAEL MINASSIAN is a Contributing Editor for Verse-Virtual. His short stories and poems have appeared in such journals as Comstock Review, Evening Street Review, Main Street Rag and Poet Lore. His chapbooks include poetry: The Arboriculturist (2010); Chuncheon Journal (2019); and photography: Around the Bend (2017). His poetry collection Time is Not a River was released in 2020.