The Arguments, by Reverie Koniecki

Prose poetry, chapbook, 16 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

The Arguments is an acute portrait of divorce–the signs, the infidelity, the violence, the kids, the grief. A woman struggles with letting go of the arguments. Long after they've ceased, they still continue to echo in her body. She doesn't know who she is anymore and must not only pick up the pieces, but rebuild as well.

The woman navigates a surreal world where telling her children triggers a flash flood; moving out causes her ex to tangle himself in memory; and dreams are mirrors that refract her deepest fears. In this space, emotions are magnified and manifested within the environment. Through observation and even rumination, she tries to make sense of her grief.

Reverie Koniecki is a Black writer and educator living in Dallas, Texas. She earned her MFA from New England College. Her work has appeared in Callaloo, Guernica, Post Road, Rigorous Magazine and other places. Her chapbooks —to the god of sore feet and bad backs from Finishing Line Press and The Wars That Steer Us from Mouthfeel Press were published in 2023.