ISOLATION
By Joshua Gray

               –For Kelli Russell Agodon

She placed such heavy words,
words only women know to write,
into a thin manila envelope,
and hand-wrote its destiny
across open dates of no return.

She searched the post office
on her phone. On her phone,
USPS converted to Islam.

The mailman would have been
a rock star, if it weren’t for love.
He took the envelope
and told her another lie.

Little did he know
the package would arrive after all,
torn from misuse.

It’s no use, she said,
and secured herself
inside her tidy house,
sheltered
from the cold wanton stillness.