Online Dating

“Facing the Dreamscape” by Jocelyn Ulevicus

The man’s profile says he is a cloud architect​                      
a sky builder, I whisper in my room. It’s 1 a.m.

and I imagine his black hair against a
blur of blue, bits of yonder on

his sleeves, hanging there so close to him for
safety. They don’t want to fall

into the endlessness, another forgotten piece
we pass on our way to the coffee shop.

When he arrives home from work
I’ll pick them like cotton balls

from his eyelashes, ever so softly and
they’ll turn to water in my hands.

Our flowers love this, I’ll say as I pour them into
the window boxes. Later, he’ll rub my feet

and his fingers will feel like stars, like it is time
for me to sleep on his shoulder until morning

when he will disappear, a kiss on the cheek and
a clean shirt taken from our closet. 

About the Author

Emily Stout is a poet and essayist from Washington state. She is an MFA candidate in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has also appeared in Sleet magazine, Breadcrumbs Magazine, and Minnow Literary Magazine.

About the Artist

Jocelyn Ulevicus is an American artist and writer with work forthcoming  or published in magazines such as the Free State Review, The Petigru  Review, Blue Mesa Review, and Humana Obscura amongst others. Working  from a female speculative perspective, themes of nature and the unseen;  and exit and entry are dominantly present in her work. Ulevicus is a 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee, and her in-progress memoir, The Birth of a Tree was shortlisted for the 2019 Santa Fe Literary Award Program. She currently resides in Amsterdam and is currently working on her first  book of poems.