what if I began with the duck’s egg
its glossy carmine yolk bleeding
on the lake’s new summer path
its blue-green shell turned
inside out
if I say the wind
was frightening, that in the early part of the storm
I only wanted him and nobody else would do
should I go farther and tell
when he slept beside me
I pressed my pelvis against him
like a drowsy springtime
animal but couldn’t uncross
my arms to touch him not even
his arms or face
now that he’s left for home
I’m flung wide open
do I need to say every day I’m filled
with the creature fear of not being cherished
when for you did this become
a poem about longing
draw an x to mark the place
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Gretchen Marquette is the author of May Day (Graywolf Press, 2016). Her poetry has appeared in Poetry, Harper’s, the Paris Review, Tin House, on PBS Newshour, and elsewhere. She lives in Minneapolis.
“Ache” was first published in Heaven (TLR, Summer 2016).