Lois Marie Harrod
Clinched
No drug her hug,
no clasp to bring you back
from the dead.
No bug to swat
from your face
or shrug off with your coat.
No rug to roll into,
no jug to chug from
beyond embrace.
A hug that dug into you
with its need—
love me, love me.
Tugged at your heart strings
until they broke—
a lonely hug.
And you fled.
Bio
Lois Marie Harrod's 16th and most recent collection Nightmares of the Minor Poet appeared in June 2016 from Five Oaks; her chapbook And She Took the Heart appeared in January 2016, and Fragments from the Biography of Nemesis (Cherry Grove Press) and the chapbook How Marlene Mae Longs for Truth (Dancing Girl Press) appeared in 2013. She is continually published in literary journals and online ezines from American Poetry Review to Zone 3. She teaches Creative Writing at The College of New Jersey. Links to her online work at www.loismarieharrod.org