Lonely Pantoum

by Lisa Summe

When I see an animal alone in the biggest field
I wonder if they are lonely or if I’m projecting.
Every night this winter a parade
of brake lights, the backstory.

Am I lonely or am I projecting?
You are the last person I kissed
& the backstory isn’t how your hair smells,
is any night in which there are no streetlights.

You are the last person I fucked
& it feels like a crisis, now every night
a night in which there are no streetlights.
I am trying not to think about you.

Crisis: every night
I close my eyes thinking about you
even though I am trying not to think about you.
Since the night there was nothing but the walk home,

I close my eyes thinking about you.
Animal alone in the biggest field.
Parade of brake lights, the backstory.
All I could do was walk home.

Lisa Summe was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH, earned a BA and MA in literature at the University of Cincinnati, and an MFA in poetry from Virginia Tech. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Cincinnati Review, bedfellows, Waxwing, Salt Hill, and elsewhere. Her first book, Say It Hurts, is forthcoming from YesYes Books in December 2020. You can find her running, playing baseball, or eating vegan pastries in Pittsburgh, PA and on Instagram and Twitter @lisasumme.

City of Asylum believes that All Pittsburghers are Poets. With the Poem of the Week series, we seek to increase the readership and appreciation of poetry locally by publishing poems written by residents of Allegheny County of all ages and levels of experience. In partnership with the Poetry Editors at Sampsonia Way Magazine, City of Asylum advances our mission to defend, celebrate, and build on creative freedom of expression. This project received a RADical ImPAct Grant from the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD).