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The Sunday Poem: Christina Yovovich... Ode to an Ex ...

What do you do with a major gift from an ex-boyfriend? Christina Socorro Yovovich did three things. 1. Hang his watercolor on her bedroom wall. 2. Listen as her new boyfriend (now husband) interpreted it. 3. Write an ode.

Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Christina has lived in Albuquerque for the past ten years. This spring she graduated from UNM with an MFA in poetry and nonfiction with distinction. Her poetry has appeared in River Styx, Broken Bridge Review, and Blue Mesa Review.

Ode To an Ex Whose Watercolor Hangs on my Bedroom Wall

I always thought his transparent lines
made a pretty scene – tree, sky, electric pole.
Like him, to find beauty in hard lines
dominating growing branches. Soon after Eric and I
became an item – I preferred artistic types
but deigned to dabble with a mere engineer –
he studied that painting while we lay, naked, chilly,
and new, on my bed. I stretched and stole his covers.
He said, I like this, how he made it after the Sistine Chapel.
Chapel? I said. Its from a snapshot of his backyard.
But he took back his blankets, and showed me
how the electric pole reached down,
giving life to the beseeching branch –
a mechanical God insisting the spark upon
a botanical Adam. I looked.
By God, he was right.

I hadn’t known my ex had something to say.
I was glad, finally, to know this gift from him.
Glad too, to no longer have him.
Eric drew me in so my head rested on his shoulder.
He said, you seem like the kind of woman
who could keep me warm in winter and I said
he’d be better off with an electric blanket.
But I did not pull away. I’ve hoped to become less upright,
less of the ungrounded jolt.

Submissions to The Sunday Poem are always welcome. Contact: TheDitchRider@gmail.com.

Tags: Christina Yovovich, MFA, UNM, poem

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Comment by Merimee Moffitt on June 28, 2009 at 11:06am: Hi Chrisitna, I really enjoy your poem. & Congrats on the MFA. My MA from UNM in CW was pre-MFA days but good paper nonetheless. I love your last three lines--a masterful conclusion. Hey, I co-edit The Rag, a humble poetry broadside contiguously published aqui en Burque for 13 yrs. If you wanna get down and into it, please send us a few shorties (30 line pretty much our max). Copies free at Winnings, Harwood, Page One, Brickyard Pizza, P&J Center, Acequia Books (nw 4th), Fixed n Free Bike Shop Nob Hill, and Michael Thomas Coffee, Guiseppe's Espresso on Silver. Would love to publish you. cir. 250 (all paper--no on-line). hey, I have a poem on this site too--the third Sunday Poet I think, maybe fourth. check it out. Nice to hear from you. I love jon's sunday Poem site. Thanks for the poem--so vivid and engaging, Merimée Moffitt theragabq@yahoo.com

Comment by Johnny_Mango on June 28, 2009 at 5:03pm: What a fine piece! I love the title and the whole premise. The critique by your boyfriennd and your reaction is just perfect. Wonderful. It gives the reader something beautiful to take from their own experiences.

Btw, Lisa Gill is The DitchRider this summer. I happen to know that the regular rascal is off on a biking tour of New England.