Written by Melissa Flores Anderson
When I say those words / what I mean is / your arms will never reach / around the span of my
center / no embrace wide enough / to enclose the broken pieces / fit them into place / I will only
weigh you down / the way I weigh myself each morning / longing to be less / even as I long / to
settle in the hollow of your chest / to take up residence there / to learn from a heart / that does not
beat too fast / too hard / too heavy / that knows how to love in measured waves / What I mean is
/ I will not hold you / in my bloodstream / in my rip tide / in my chaos / I will run / with my heart
cut from my sleeve / until the flow is staunched
.
Melissa Flores Anderson is a Latinx Californian who lives with her husband and son. A three-time Best of the Net and one-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her creative work has been featured in more than 40 literary venues and anthologies, including swamp pink, Chapter House and HAD. She is a reader/editor with Roi Fainéant Press. She has co-authored a novelette, “Roadkill,” (ELJ Editions) and a chapbook “A Body in Motion,” (JAKE). Her first full-length short story collection “All and Then None of You” is out September 2025 (Cowboy Jamboree). Follow her on Twitter/Bluesky @melissacuisine or IG/Threads @theirishmonths. Read her work at melissafloresandersonwrites.com.