heartbreak — hers and mine
beauty brings joy not sadness
yet somehow my heart breaks
small pieces at the overbearingness
the hardness the shape and curve
Gone
All baby softness
All zerberts on your belly
All ability to kiss away the pain
a scrapped knee off the sidewalk
it’s easier
when it’s screams and cries
when you ran in for a hug
I bounced you on a knee made you laugh
Now
your feet will touch the ground
and I’m lost
Jason Melvin is a father, husband, grandfather, high school soccer coach, and metals processing center supervisor, who lives just north of Pittsburgh. Most of his poems come to him while riding his lawnmower around the yard.
His work has recently appeared in The Beatnik Cowboy, Olney, Rat’s Ass Review, Bombfire, Front Porch Review, Orangepeel, Anti-Heroin Chic, Zero Readers and Sledgehammer, among others. He was nominated for a Pushcart by Outcast and was named second runner up for the Heartwood Poetry Prize 2021.
