love letter to valentine’s day
Annalisa Hansford
after Lucia Gonzalez & Sarah Kay & Hanif Abdurraqib & Frank O’Hara
it is valentine’s day in boston & i tell the girl who i am not in love with that i love her & give her
a bouquet of dried lavender because it is her favorite flower & four valentine’s days before this i
pray to a god that i don’t believe in & ask them if the person i am in love with loves me & it
starts to rain & in boston the only thing i believe in is rain & the girl who i am not in love with
gives me a teddy bear for valentine’s day & it is now collecting dust on the hardwood floors of
my hometown & the person i was in love with four valentine’s days ago won me a purple stuffed
animal from a claw machine in an abandoned arcade & it is now in my hometown in a box full of
the past & when valentine’s day comes next year there will be a new girl in boston & i will buy
her a bouquet of her favorite flower & i will tell her i love her & she will give me a stuffed
animal that won’t make it to my hometown & it will start to rain
Annalisa Hansford is an undergraduate at Emerson College studying Creative Writing. Their writing appears in Emerge Literary Journal, The Hearth Magazine, Eunoia Review, The Aurora Journal, Lavender Bones, VIBE, and elsewhere. Their work has been recognized by 1455 Literary Arts, Joliet Public Library, and Grindstone Literary. They are the editor-in-chief of hand picked poetry and a reader for The Emerson Review. They are probably listening to Gracie Abrams and drinking iced vanilla matcha lattes.