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Melissa Adamo


Music Therapy

I never knew the point of a treble clef,
but thought it was beautiful all the same.
Just as he didn't understand why he left,
but somehow knew we couldn't be sustained.

His borrowed etudes valley through my mind
between dark mountains of memory.
I had felt his changes over time,
diminished notes wearing him quietly.

Our tone was ambiguous, our pace, quick.
Yet before our end, he would pretend to play
my acoustic-guitar curves with no pick,
strike major chords to hold on and delay.

I try to learn the scores of our small bed,
hoping he finds rest from songs in his head.




Petal from Bud

Sound waves collapse bubbles underwater,
                 producing new light.

Synapses and galaxies mimic each other,
                 playing with time and height.

Humans wait to be touched by lovers,
                 to feel alive and seem right

or pay gypsies for tea leaves
                 to separate comfort from fright.

Microscopes and slides reveal
                 what runs through animal blood.

Flowers are plucked and sealed,
                 so we can know petal from bud.

Men and women press palms
                 together for hope out of the mud,

or dance and delve in wines
                 to understand the flood.

































AUTHOR BIO

Melissa Adamo received her MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers-Newark University. She is a staff writer for English Kills Review, and her other poems, essays, and book reviews have previously appeared in journals such as Per Contra, Plath Profiles, and The Rumpus. Teaching various courses at Rutgers, Montclair State, and Ramapo College while working as a writing tutor at Brookdale Community College, she gets to enjoy the best the NJ parkway has to offer due to her love of language and try-hard students. Follow her word-thoughts on writing, feminism, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Twitter @adamopoeting.

POETRY CONTRIBUTORS

Melissa Adamo
Sylvia Ashby
Jane Blanchard
Patricia Bollin
Cathleen Calbert
Maryann Corbett
Eleanor Cory
Casey FitzSimons
Nicole Caruso Garcia
Claudia Gary
Edith Goldenhar
A. J. Huffman
Cambria Jones
Tamam Kahn
Jean L. Kreiling
Fiona Marshall
Holly Painter
Zara Raab
Andrea Witzke Slot
Linda Stern
Anne-Marie Thompson
Doris Watts
Holly Woodward

NEWS

Mezzo Cammin will celebrate its tenth anniversary at Poetry by the Sea: A Global Conference, on Thursday, May 28, from 3:15-4:30, Mercy by the Sea in Madison, CT. Please join us!

FEATURED ARTIST
Candy Chang: Meant as a singular experiment, the Before I Die project gained global attention and thanks to passionate people around the world, over 500 Before I Die walls have been created in over 70 countries, including Kazakhstan, Iraq, Haiti, China, Ukraine, Portugal, Japan, Denmark, Argentina, and South Africa.
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