Ode to a New Jersey Man Who Arrived Last May, Said He’d Return, But Never Did

Today, I wear the dress you said
was your favorite. It is one year
since your hand rested on my waist
& I felt you tremble through its fabric.

Last night, I dreamed you slept beside me
in a bed covered with maroon sheets.
When I rested my hand on your back,
you morphed into a fork-tongued serpent
covered in blinding blue-green scales.

The sky outside darkened. I recalled
the rainy afternoon you arrived
carrying two oversized bouquets of daisies
& sunflowers & roses–the first & only man
to arrive carrying hope & light in his hands,

cradling the vases like you later cradled
my head against the pillow that night

family members texted from our homeland:
There is a war. The world forgets.

We slept for two hours & at 0430
I sat on the bed’s edge, asking you
Do you still want me?
& you answered Yes

& you pulled me into you & said
You have that morning-after glow.
At breakfast they will know
I will love you for a thousand years
& it still would not be enough time.

One year later & I am wearing
the dress you said was your favorite.
There is still a war in our homeland.
My father cried during our phone call
last night. A friend messaged:
Do you remember Bohdan?
We learned that he is dead,
killed in action. Tomorrow,
they send his body home.  

Nicole Yurcaba (Нікола Юрцаба) is a Ukrainian American of Hutsul/Lemko origin. Her poems and reviews have appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Atlanta Review, Poetry Ireland Review, The Belfast Review, Seneca Review, New Eastern Europe, Euromaidan Press, Chytomo, and The New Voice of Ukraine. Nicole holds an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University, teaches poetry workshops for Southern New Hampshire University, and is the Humanities Coordinator at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. She also serves as a guest book reviewer for Sage Cigarettes, Tupelo Quarterly, Colorado Review, and Southern Review of Books. Her poetry collection, The Pale Goth (2023), is available from Alien Buddha Press and her chapbook Have Your Eyes is available from Dancing Girl Press (2025).