Victoria Ritvo
Ode
You shrink from the sound
of your own words
spoken through the mouths
of the living.
You’re close enough to hear,
but not close enough
that I can cover your ears.
My hands cup the air—
a zero is not a hole
or an eternal loop.
It’s a little piece of nothing
that someone has circled
so we know where to look.
Victoria Ritvo reads “Ode”
Victoria Ritvo is a Psychology and Neuroscience PhD student at Princeton University, researching memory. Her writing has appeared in Bat City Review, The Journal, Typo Magazine, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City.