NORTHEAST OHIO SPOTLIGHT

You Keep Asking What I Want And I Don't Know What I Want

Poetry by Amanda Stovicek D'Alessandro

Bright orange leaves brimming out
of trees. The sugar maple turning two-
 
tone. Eleven different kinds of coffee
that I cannot not have. Something to hold.
 
Give me something to hold so close it’s in me.
That first spot after we made
 
love was the worst spot. A sense of
relief and sadness. Worry. I want you to
 
give me something to hold. Not in my arms or
the palms of my hands, but I will carry it.
 
The room is bare when we wash the sheets.
It looks like it could be lived in. You have nothing
 
to worry about, she said after
the exam and all I did was worry and wonder
 
and mull it over every night before sleeping.
If sleep comes I want no dreams.

​

Amanda Stovicek D'Alessandro

Amanda Stovicek D'Alessandro is a poet made of star stuff. She is the recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for 2022 based on her body of work. Her debut micro-chapbook, Space Spectacular, was published by Ghost City Press in their 2018 Summer Micro-Chapbook Series. Her work has appeared in sidereal magazine, Nice Cage, The Bookends Review, 45th Parallel, and elsewhere. Stovicek D'Alessandro lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with her family. You can find her online at poetamsd.com.