I followed you across the ocean, 
	didn’t I?  
The tall Arab made my path clear, 	
	gave reality and shape 
	to my existence. 

I collected anecdotes for you, 
	harvested personal events. 
My eyes were your servants;
	They sought nothing
	for themselves.

Will you tell me 
	how you could let it happen, 
this bifurcation between the outside, 
	the heat and the golden light 
	and the tall Arab, 
and the inside where you plot 
	and conceal?

And didn’t you notice, 
	just at that moment, 
	how the world ended?

—
Andrea Jackson has an MFA from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She writes fiction and poetry. Her most recent publication is a story in the 2013 Alligator Juniper.