Postcards from Missing You

Muir Beach, California

If you were here, I would have had to stop you from running toward the woods, into the sea, too far, too fast. There is a stillness and a slowness to being in a place without you that I do not prefer, but find unnerving. I want you to be here so that you can run your fingers through the cypress needles like hair and watch the pelican jackknife itself into the water, again and again. I want you to hear the way the wind shakes the house. I want you to know the way the air smells. I want to see your face when you realize it is not “cat,” but “lynx.” I want to remember the intimacy of those split seconds when you are not running off somewhere, the urgency of this age before you run away from me forever.

Issue 6

https://manyworlds.place/issue-6/christy-tending/

by Christy Tending

Muir Beach, California

If you were here, I would have had to stop you from running toward the woods, into the sea, too far, too fast. There is a stillness and a slowness to being in a place without you that I do not prefer, but find unnerving. I want you to be here so that you can run your fingers through the cypress needles like hair and watch the pelican jackknife itself into the water, again and again. I want you to hear the way the wind shakes the house. I want you to know the way the air smells. I want to see your face when you realize it is not “cat,” but “lynx.” I want to remember the intimacy of those split seconds when you are not running off somewhere, the urgency of this age before you run away from me forever.

Christy Tending (she/they) is the author of High Priestess of the Apocalypse and Creative Nonfiction Editor with Sundog Lit. Her work has been published in Longreads, The Rumpus, and Electric Literature, and received a notable mention in Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023. She lives in Oakland, California with their family. You can learn more about her work at www.christytending.com or follow Christy on Twitter @christytending.