Yesterday my name was Sorrow Dipped in Silver,
and today, well, who knows. Maybe Rose.
Maybe Sunflower. Maybe Buoyant Smile.
I am rolling O’s and crazy eights, a skinny girl
with curves barely there, walking for hours
looking for happy, for the comfort of light floating from windows,
for the myth of love. I want thunder. Hot electric kisses.
I dream of tangoing across the horizon like everyone else,
like the perfect girls, the good-hair girls, the ones shaped like follow me.
I am storm. I am mud. I am the back row, the end of a sigh.
Wild Longing, that’s today’s name.

—Published 22nd of May 2026

About Victoria Melekian

Victoria Melekian’s work has appeared in print and online. Her poetry collection “The Accidental Courage of Our Lives” is available from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. Her novella-in-flash “Unhoused” won first place in the 2026 Bath Flash Fiction Novella-in-Flash Awards. For more, see her website: victoriamelekian.com