Goodbye is a road
from paved to gravel to God
knows where. I’ve said goodbye
to people I’ll never see again—some,
it’s just as well, but others…hmmm—
I wish I could see them one more time.
Some I wanted to say goodbye to,
but didn’t. The bus was about to leave;
it was late and the lights were off;
or I just forgot. So I’ll say it now,
say it quietly, like a little prayer.
Goodbye friend. Goodbye dear.
I could do better, right—
like that bus, or the sun at sundown,
or October leaves? But then
I’d be someone who gets it right,
who always calls or writes,
and I wouldn’t have this regret
that I carry so sorely today—
your leaving and our little lie:
Let’s keep in touch, goodbye.
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Matthew Murrey’s poems have appeared widely, most recently in Under a Warm Green Linden, Mom Egg Review and The Inflectionist Review. His first book of poems, Bulletproof, came out from Jacar Press in 2019. He works as a high school librarian, and is in his last year before retiring.
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Sasha Weiss, the Managing Editor of Another Chicago Magazine, is a poet who moved from Los Angeles to Chicago for the weather. Their work has appeared in From the Depths, Cathexis Northwest, and Another Chicago Magazine, among others.
Another Chicago Magazine 