No Vacancy

Angela Acosta

Dear E,

You texted saying how you’d have

family visiting all summer;

you were hibernating with the lights off

head buried in the pillow like an anchor.

Twelve unread messages,

two unoccupied guest rooms,

too much negative space;

the temperature keeps climbing.

Muggy, hot Florida summertime,

early tropical storms and flash floods

turning into festering mosquitos

dive-bombing backyard bird feeders.

You weren’t in the mood to see me,

busily tending to your absent visitors,

being the hostess with the mostess:

offline and unavailable.

Come over for tea sometime,

because I’m trying to avoid conflict

but it’s my birthday and this sappy Cancer

needs her stable Virgo to beat the summer blues.

Love,

B

Angela Acosta (she/her) is a bilingual Latina poet and scholar from Gainesville, Florida. She won the 2015 Rhina P. Espaillat Award from West Chester University, and her work has appeared in Toyon: Multilingual Literary Magazine, WinC Magazine, MacroMicroCosm, Panochazine, and Eye to the Telescope. Angela currently resides in Columbus, Ohio where she is completing her Ph.D. in Iberian Studies at The Ohio State University. Find her on Instagram @aaperiquito.

https://sppo.osu.edu/people/acosta.81