God Himself did make us
I almost killed myself—on accident this time—by swallowing too many empty promises. Self-starved on sucralose secrets. Almost Wile E. Coyoted myself straight off the edge of a cliff. Even took a nice lorem ipsum dolor to the face. You see, every couple of years I tell myself I’m done with sit amet boys because distance is a space you can’t consume and to romance the road between us is to consectetur with things that age well like avocados and apples meant to ripen in transit (but still rot on the trip). I left a scar on him and he told me he liked it. Long before adipiscing, I already knew the pulp and sinew of sweet semantics, but never had flavors like his fallen so tender on my tongue. Now I’m all blood orange elit and tallow-lust and sed do eiusmod tempor. I lost ten pounds that summer. And if you know anything about aging beef you know it means to incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua alone, break down, and consume itself. Less meat, higher value. Point is, I was silver-spoon-feeding myself diet desires and wondering why my hands shook like ut enim ad minim veniam. In hindsight, I think The Postal Service knew exactly what they were doing when they said everything looks quisnostrud exercitation from far away while calling themselves The Postal Service. They, too, have surely glanced across the country or let their gaze bounce off the moon or ullamco laboris nisi without even squinting, and thought to themselves—ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Like, this is the shit everyone talks about. Like, true love actually exists. Like, duis aute irure dolor despite the distance in reprehenderit in voluptate despite velit esse cillum dolore eu despite fugiat nulla pariatur like the black holes we can see but can’t explain or the bruises on our knees we forget. Excepteur, like the scar on him sint occaecat cupidatat non proident I promise sunt in culpa is real, qui officia deserunt mollit because the bed was covered anim id est laborum in blood.
Amanda Nicole Corbin is an award-winning Ohio-based poet who has had her work published in Black Warrior Review, New Ohio Review, Notre Dame Review, The London Magazine, Door is a Jar, Palette Poetry, and more. She is the winner of the 2025 Mississippi Review Poetry contest where her work received a Pushcart Nomination. Her second collection, a say in patience, is forthcoming with Sundress Publications (2027). You can find her playing Magic the Gathering or on Instagram and Threads @ancpoet.