Natalie Schriefer
Acquaintanceship
For Corey
It has been six months.
“From the other side”
you haunt me
in snippets of
Adele, your favorite –
“Hello. It’s me.”
Guilt is an anchor
swollen and heavy.
I’m sorry not
for the things I did,
but for the rainbow wig
I didn’t send,
the birthday I missed
because time off
was a hassle,
that I was too busy
graduating to realize
you’d gotten sicker,
that only once I’d bothered
to actually talk to you, say
something more than pleasantries.
What stage of grief is this?
What advice exists for acquaintances
who remember laughter, emojis,
jokes about rainbow wigs
crossing a million miles one snowy afternoon--
only one, God, I didn’t even know you,
you were the roommate of a friend--
snowflakes sticking to the cold glass,
shrouding the world beyond my window,
the screen of my laptop?
I’m sorry.
“There’s such a difference
between us” now
and it’s not miles
or missed phone calls;
it’s Adele
here on my side.
Can you hear
her on yours?
*Adele. (2015). Hello [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHsXMglC9A
Natalie Schriefer is a fiction writer in SCSU's Master of Fine Arts program. Her short stories, poetry, and personal essays have been published in both print and online at venues such as Nanoism, Penworks, Otto, 1:1000, and MTV, among others. She also writes for her self-awareness blog, located at www.natalieschriefer.com.
Acquaintanceship
For Corey
It has been six months.
“From the other side”
you haunt me
in snippets of
Adele, your favorite –
“Hello. It’s me.”
Guilt is an anchor
swollen and heavy.
I’m sorry not
for the things I did,
but for the rainbow wig
I didn’t send,
the birthday I missed
because time off
was a hassle,
that I was too busy
graduating to realize
you’d gotten sicker,
that only once I’d bothered
to actually talk to you, say
something more than pleasantries.
What stage of grief is this?
What advice exists for acquaintances
who remember laughter, emojis,
jokes about rainbow wigs
crossing a million miles one snowy afternoon--
only one, God, I didn’t even know you,
you were the roommate of a friend--
snowflakes sticking to the cold glass,
shrouding the world beyond my window,
the screen of my laptop?
I’m sorry.
“There’s such a difference
between us” now
and it’s not miles
or missed phone calls;
it’s Adele
here on my side.
Can you hear
her on yours?
*Adele. (2015). Hello [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHsXMglC9A
Natalie Schriefer is a fiction writer in SCSU's Master of Fine Arts program. Her short stories, poetry, and personal essays have been published in both print and online at venues such as Nanoism, Penworks, Otto, 1:1000, and MTV, among others. She also writes for her self-awareness blog, located at www.natalieschriefer.com.