Phil Goldstein
Image by Jessica Ticozzelli from Pexels
Phil Goldstein's debut poetry collection, How to Bury a Boy at Sea, which reckons with the trauma of child sexual abuse from the male perspective, was published by Stillhouse Press in April 2022. His poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net award and has appeared in South Florida Poetry Journal, The Laurel Review, Rust+Moth, Moist Poetry Journal, Two Peach, The Indianapolis Review, Awakened Voices and elsewhere. He currently lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and animals: a dog named Brenna, and two cats, Grady and Princess.
What I Hold Onto of You
I remember when we skated under jewels
hung high on the girders, twinkling
emerald in the crisp October. The crimson velvet
of your coat bled off your shoulders.
Our hands a hair clip that interlaces upon itself.
We had come from Chelsea, celebrating
the engagement of your college roommate.
We ordered Old Fashioneds with fancy bourbon,
glowing amber amid laughter.
I loved everything about that night.
The way your coat pooled
on the floor. The way we breathed into each other.
That was before we retreated to the woods.
Now the city is medieval history, etched in a cathedral’s window.
So far from the forest, and the tawny
autumn light.
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