Say a Prayer, Mikaela Rae Atiogue

After Neil Hilborn

I ate nothing but apple slices & eggs,
hard-boiled, lightly salted. It was the summer
of forgetting. The summer of scrubbing my tongue
until it bled. Trying to get that taste out of my mouth.
I can’t remember if this was the summer I spent
every night drinking myself into a hole, but I do
remember this being the summer I began opening
my bedroom window again, the katydids chitter
drowning out the thoughts of that boy still stuck
on the tip of my tongue even though I never wanted him there
in the first place. It was the summer we pretended
that that night had never happened, we pretended
I’d said yes, the entire time.

About the Author

Michelle DeLouise · Hendrix College

Michelle DeLouise is a senior at Hendrix College, graduating in May with a degree in English-Creative Writing. Her work can be found in Rising Phoenix Review, Hawai’i Review, Red Flag Poetry, Rookie Mag, The Olive Press, Clementine Unbound, and the Aonian. “Somewhere My Father” first appeared in the Aonian.

About the Artist

Mikaela Rae Antoigue · Hawai’i Pacific University

Mikaela Rae Atoigue is a senior English major at Hawai’i Pacific University.  Aside from school, work, and church, she mentors the inner-city youth of Hawai’i as a part of Life 360 Network, Inc.” “Say a Prayer” first appeared in Wanderlust.