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by Charise Hoge
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Absence is not absinthe,
though it offers a heady whiff
of intoxication.
You arrive in camouflage.
The first hug is relief
peppered with roadblocks
–the near hit, constant heat.
You’re wooden as a crate
of goods, the scavenging of war.
I’ll bargain on seduction’s truce
to pry you through your pores.
We’ll lip-sync whatever’s missing.
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Charise Hoge is a dance/movement therapist, performing artist, and writer. Her work in arts and healing has brought wellness programs into hospitals, counseling centers, Smithsonian museums, and businesses. As a military spouse, she co-authored the book A Portable Identity: A Woman’s Guide to Maintaining a Sense of Self While Moving Overseas. Her poetry has been published in various journals and magazines, the book Next Line, Please: Prompts to Inspire Poets and Writers (Cornell University Press, 2018), as well as her chapbooks Striking Light from Ashes (Finishing Line Press, 2017) and Muse in a Suitcase (Kelsay Books, 2021). She has given poetry readings in a variety of venues, including a moving streetcar for Art All Night DC.
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