Marisa Donnelly

Marisa is a writer, poet, & editor. She is the author of Somewhere On A Highway, a poetry collection on self-discovery, growth, love, loss and the challenges of becoming.

I Only Want You When You’re Sober

I want your eyes open and bright, not red-rimmed and disguised with a loopy smile. Not a body slumped on a couch and an arm draped heavy across my shoulders. Not a kiss you won’t remember, still wet on my lips.

I’m Sorry I Can’t Love You

This isn’t a choice I made, but an unconscious feeling. I cannot love you because my heart is still caught in the mess of someone else. I cannot love you because I am too selfish, too determined, too content in being the girl on her own.

This Is How We Speak Now

We don’t. We communicate in garbled languages, in words typed and misconstrued behind keyboards and screens. We text what we mean and then we erase it. And we write what we think we should say, what the world wants us to.