Half Empty/Half Full
John Laue
EULOGY
Olivia Zarzycki
I.
strawberry sun sky.
your front porch.
the pet turtle is out of his tank
and racing along the stoop while
we giggle.
video box daydream.
chain-smoking in love.
i don’t know what day it is.
it doesn’t matter.
II.
when the turtle dies we
bury it in your mom’s backyard
in the suburbs―two months
later. its eyes had
disintegrated. two
black caverns. like the
pit in my stomach. the
space between you
and me.
Olivia Zarzycki is an educator and writer living in the city of Philadelphia with her pet ferret. Her writing often focuses on the experiences of transformation and heartbreak that come along with navigating young adulthood.
An accomplished photographer and a widely-published poet with five books out, John Laue had two successful shows of his photos last year and has had many selected for local and international galleries and featured in magazines.