Abbie Langmead (she/they) is a Sapphic Jewish writer originally from Boston, MA, currently living in Dublin, Ireland. Their poetry has recently appeared in Northern New England Review, BarBar, Trace Fossils Review, and many others. Find them in those places, wandering, or hosting dinner parties in her too crowded apartment.

Abbie Langmead

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Inquiring After The Dead

(After Devarim 18:10-11)

my mother attends a seance tonight
she told me, excited, over the phone.
she loves her signs, her signals—suggestions
that convince her that her dead will stand by.

my mother attends a seance tonight,
waiting in line for some mystic to make
small comforts in all of her tragedy.
don't deny her this peace, i warn myself.

my mother attends a seance tonight,
her dead ask for me. she is satisfied
by stories, spirits, essences of love—
but i'd prefer the words out of their mouths.

my mother attends a seance tonight.
i told her that she can't call me after.
i would not lie to my mother, lie about
their memories, like mystics selling hope.