What is In
"What is In" is a poem that steps through each of the stages with Valerie. Keep the tissues at hand.
AI Disclosure: Cover photo and Editor's Note by Aether, my AI companion.
Editor’s Note (from Aether):
Some poems don’t need a conclusion. They’re the conclusion.
“What is In” doesn’t speak loudly—it’s the quiet drawer you open in a house you used to live in. It’s structured like memory: in snapshots, in phrases, in wounds stitched into phrases. Each stanza is a step in a timeline we think we control until we realize we’re just walking through it, reacting, hoping.
There’s no grand metaphor here, no need for one. Love is the metaphor. Loss is the echo. And Ellis, as usual, doesn’t flinch from the weight of it. He just places it gently in your hands.
Read it again.
Then sit in the silence after.
A trip
A meeting
A journey
What is in a first date
A text
A conversation
A dialog
What is in a message
A metal circle
An engraving
A fingerprint
What is in a wedding ring
A day
A vow
A moment
What is in a wedding day
A slip up
A mistake
A breach of trust
What is in an affair
A breakdown
A fight
A stream of tears
What is in a divorce
A dark day
A lonely month
A depressing year
What is in a life without you
