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Reasons I No Longer Date:

by Porsha Allen
A collage of starfish, frogs, and pigs.

The first boy scraped me clean from a sunless sky.

The second cracked open my rib cage like eggshells.

The third, after the second date, never called again.

The fourth loved me well but I couldn’t stop thinking about the first.

The fifth still has my throat.

Cover art: “Arrangement with Pigs” by Augustina Droze

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Porsha Allen

Porsha Monique Allen received her MFA in poetry from Queens University of Charlotte in 2021. Her work has appeared & is forthcoming in Scalawag Magazine, Rattle, Belle Ombre, Protean Magazine, Apricity Press, Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, & elsewhere. She was selected as a semi-finalist for Naugatuck River Review's 12th Annual Narrative Poetry Contest. You can find her on Twitter @porshamallen. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.