You Only Nodded When I Said I’d Heard Your Ex Had Cancer

By Mark Jackley

Your silence and then the mild remark

about the weather brought to mind

how people close a door sometimes

using two hands —

one to carefully turn the knob,

left then right, the other

guiding the door into place

and baffling the sound

with the studied care

of a jewel thief, though

this time, one who chose

to leave everything behind.

Mark Jackley is the author of several chapbooks and two full-length collections, most recently Hello Hello Hello (Blurb Press). His work has appeared in Tampa Review, Melic, Crate, Talking River, Sugar House Review, and other journals. He lives in Sterling, Virginia.