Adrienne Marie Barrios
1. THE DISPATCHWithin Easy Reach of the Rocky Mountains
She can’t help but think of you—imagining the tone of your voice, the shape of your mouth when you say her name. She can’t help but wonder if you look out your window at the mountains and see possibility, or if you don’t see anything at all, or if you look but think about some other thing in your life—if you think about her. She pictures you with a mug and that hat, steam billowing away from your face as you blow into the hot black liquid, the truth of your existence evading you. But you know it evades everyone. She can’t help but wonder if you know that she’s serious, if you know that there’s a fleck of her mind that burns brighter for you with each piece she reads, each bit of you that you share. She can’t help but think it’s the same for you. She pictures you with a beer and that dog, sound asleep by your side, leaving room for someone between. She can’t help but imagine his velvet ears between her fingers, your fingers running toward the tip of her spine.
2. BUREAU INVENTORYTea tray (from Turkey!) holding:
A glass pot of tea, usually from my favorite tea company, Mariage Frères.
A cast iron warmer below the pot with two tea lights burning inside it.
A box of long matches.
A teacup (often antique, purchased on eBay or Etsy or found in a vintage shop somewhere in the United States).
A purple glass tea caddy in the shape of a flower.
Some small treat—little candies or macarons.
Nail file because I file my nails compulsively while I think.
Chicago Manual of Style. Does this need explaining?
Whatever book or magazine I’m reading at the time—currently The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He.
Water.
A cat or four.
A spray bottle because of the cats.
A Moleskine notebook and pen, in which I write lists and ideas for Reservoir Road Literary Review.
3. BIOGRAPHYAdrienne Marie Barrios has work forthcoming in trampset, Rejection Letters, Identity Theory, and Scrawl Place. Her full-length prose poetry collection, written in collaboration with Leigh Chadwick, is forthcoming from Autofocus Lit in late 2022. She is editor-in-chief of Reservoir Road Literary Review and edits short stories and award-winning novels. Find her online at adriennemariebarrios.com.