An appropriate message for a bottle, this piece toys with longing and nostalgia, but with an airiness that lends unmistakable charm.

send me a quilt, to keep me warm in Coventry,
some light novels, too, the better
to while away the time with
until you join me here.

amber-bottled, the curling note
of scrawling script, goes on:
bring firewood, too, and some tea,
a kettle and some cups

to break the morning, long before
the sun slips down and I
sleep again in the shade and
some news of you, too,

and a red lipstick, blue undertoned, a
flint for fire, writing paper and
more bottles, please, there is
so much more I want to say,

counting the leaves of ivy until
I see you next

MaryAnn McCarra-Fitzpatrick was born in the Bronx in 1967. She holds a B.A. in English from Manhattan College. She has been published in Obsolete Magazine, Make Room for Dada, The Mount Vernon Inquirer, Mount Vernon Today, Westchester Times Tribune, Mount Vernon Independent, and Contemporary Literary Horizon. She lives with her husband and three boys in Mount Vernon, New York.