As stories crossed the screen,
Etta James sang
“All I Could Do Was Cry.”

Chapter after chapter,
I would lose him again,
and he would lose his lovers.

Some said goodbye,
others perished—
either by accident,
childbirth,
or assault.

Each woman,
different and similar—
each woman had him,
each woman stood in for me.

Paragraph after paragraph,
he lived on.
Revenge was telling me,
Have him die,
save his exit for the end.

But like Etta,
I still loved him.
Unlike the song,
absolution found love
in loss.

PATRICIA CARRAGON’s recent publications include The Avocet, A Journal of Nature Poetry, Bear Creek Haiku, Danse Macabre, First Literary Review-East, Last Call: The Anthology of Beer, Wine & Spirits Poetry, and The New Verse News. Her latest books are The Cupcake Chronicles (Poets Wear Prada, 2017) and Innocence (Finishing Line Press, 2017). Patricia hosts the Brooklyn-based Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology.