The Day After Wikipedia Still Lists Her in Present Tense
Published 2025
The Southampton Review
“Melissa Bank is an author…” I’m imagining she’s still
around ordering lattes always
meaning instead to order flat whites but forgetting
and eating that chopped vegetable take-out salad she could make
at home and doesn’t.
When her beloved dog died suddenly (from something avoidable
but isn’t that how we all go?) Melissa, stirring
coffee frothed on top
heart swirl sinking, said the difference
between humans and pets is she could get another dog
approximating and filling the void
her creature left
behind like his squeaky rubber squirrel still
under her bed, possibly
waiting but she was pretty sure you couldn’t do that
with humans though she paused long then
jaw shifting side to side small smirk forming
before adding it was too bad, that
that was so.
Everyone tweeting about Melissa reminisces
about her first book
its significance and sway
and yes…But I always believed her
second book was the best
thing I’d read
by her or anyone— her second book a wonder
and you should read it if you haven’t or re-read it
if you have. Neither book contains
those elegant tight blue ink illustrations
keeping her words company
in her graph paper notebooks though
they are beautiful enough
to get published too… and really precious
few of her words were published
in the end, we are all like that I think;
some talents emerging like rocket ships
others confined to quiet
little graph paper notebooks we carry
around to coffee shops after losing someone we love
doodling and creating to fill the cavernous void.
About
Awards
Columbia Journal: First Place Winner, 2020 Nonfiction Award for autobiographical essay “HYBRID”
Beyond Words Literary Magazine: Winner, 2020 Dream Challenge “Kaden has Covid”
The Maine Review: Hon. Mention, 2021 Embody Award for essay “HIDEOUS”
Sunspot Lit: Finalist, 2020 Inception Contest Flash Fiction “Before and After”
Streetlight Magazine: Hon. Mention, 2020 Essay Contest “Finding Barbie’s Shoes”
Gival Press: Finalist, Oscar Wilde Award 2021 for poem “Self-Portrait at Age 9 as Albert Cashier”
Craft Literary: Hon. Mention, 2021 Flash Fiction Award
North American Review: Finalist, 2020 Kurt Vonnegut Prize
Get in Touch
Recent Work
The First Time I Consider Ending My Life I Am Four – Room Magazine
The Day After Wikipedia Still Lists Her in Present Tense – The Southampton Review
The Name Dropper – The Maine Review
My Earliest Self is a Boy… – Electric Lit
T – The Rumpus
Denny and Me – Passengers Journal
Small-Town Nonsense – The East Hampton Star
A Conversation with Morgan Talty – The Rumpus
My Avatar (aka afab perpetrates heteronormative relationship) – Holy Gossip
What Goes Around – EAST Magazine
The Liar – The Normal School
I Drew a House – The Rumpus
More
HYBRID – Columbia Journal
Blended Family – The Southampton Review
There are No Baked Potato Chips in Palm Beach – Dash Literary Journal
Last Night I Dreamed My Mother Was Carl Reiner and I Was Sad She Died – Bangalore Review
Time Will Tell – The Fiddlehead (Excerpted from Winter 2023 Print Journal)
Parallel Family – Harvard Review
Finding Barbie’s Shoes – Streetlight Magazine
Deformed – RFD Magazine
#2486 – The Southampton Review
On Drinking – Stonecoast Review
My Last Dress – The Sun Magazine
Reviews and Interviews
Misperceptions, Assumptions, and Slurs: Jackie Domenus's No Offense – The Rumpus
A Conversation with Morgan Talty – The Rumpus
Naming Stars: An Interview with Andrés N. Ordorica – The Massachusetts Review
Interview by J Brooke of Hotel Cuba’s author Aaron Hamburger – Streetlight Magazine
J Brooke’s Reading Recommendations – The Fiddlehead
Two New Series Bravely Lose The Labels – Incluvie Film Review
Review of Melissa Febos’ Girlhood – Glint Journal
Review of Susan Conley’s Landslide – Streetlight Magazine
Interview with Massachusetts Review
Interview with Stonecoast Review
The Day After Wikipedia Still Lists Her in Present Tense
Published 2025
The Southampton Review
“Melissa Bank is an author…” I’m imagining she’s still
around ordering lattes always
meaning instead to order flat whites but forgetting
and eating that chopped vegetable take-out salad she could make
at home and doesn’t.
When her beloved dog died suddenly (from something avoidable
but isn’t that how we all go?) Melissa, stirring
coffee frothed on top
heart swirl sinking, said the difference
between humans and pets is she could get another dog
approximating and filling the void
her creature left
behind like his squeaky rubber squirrel still
under her bed, possibly
waiting but she was pretty sure you couldn’t do that
with humans though she paused long then
jaw shifting side to side small smirk forming
before adding it was too bad, that
that was so.
Everyone tweeting about Melissa reminisces
about her first book
its significance and sway
and yes…But I always believed her
second book was the best
thing I’d read
by her or anyone— her second book a wonder
and you should read it if you haven’t or re-read it
if you have. Neither book contains
those elegant tight blue ink illustrations
keeping her words company
in her graph paper notebooks though
they are beautiful enough
to get published too… and really precious
few of her words were published
in the end, we are all like that I think;
some talents emerging like rocket ships
others confined to quiet
little graph paper notebooks we carry
around to coffee shops after losing someone we love
doodling and creating to fill the cavernous void.
Recent Work
The First Time I Consider Ending My Life I Am Four – Room Magazine
The Day After Wikipedia Still Lists Her in Present Tense – The Southampton Review
The Name Dropper – The Maine Review
My Earliest Self is a Boy… – Electric Lit
T – The Rumpus
Denny and Me – Passengers Journal
Small-Town Nonsense – The East Hampton Star
A Conversation with Morgan Talty – The Rumpus
My Avatar (aka afab perpetrates heteronormative relationship) – Holy Gossip
What Goes Around – EAST Magazine
The Liar – The Normal School
I Drew a House – The Rumpus
More
HYBRID – Columbia Journal
Blended Family – The Southampton Review
There are No Baked Potato Chips in Palm Beach – Dash Literary Journal
Last Night I Dreamed My Mother Was Carl Reiner and I Was Sad She Died – Bangalore Review
Time Will Tell – The Fiddlehead (Excerpted from Winter 2023 Print Journal)
Parallel Family – Harvard Review
Finding Barbie’s Shoes – Streetlight Magazine
Deformed – RFD Magazine
#2486 – The Southampton Review
On Drinking – Stonecoast Review
My Last Dress – The Sun Magazine
Reviews and Interviews
Misperceptions, Assumptions, and Slurs: Jackie Domenus's No Offense – The Rumpus
A Conversation with Morgan Talty – The Rumpus
Naming Stars: An Interview with Andrés N. Ordorica – The Massachusetts Review
Interview by J Brooke of Hotel Cuba’s author Aaron Hamburger – Streetlight Magazine
J Brooke’s Reading Recommendations – The Fiddlehead
Two New Series Bravely Lose The Labels – Incluvie Film Review
Review of Melissa Febos’ Girlhood – Glint Journal
Review of Susan Conley’s Landslide – Streetlight Magazine
Interview with Massachusetts Review
Interview with Stonecoast Review
About
Awards
Columbia Journal: First Place Winner, 2020 Nonfiction Award for autobiographical essay “HYBRID”
Beyond Words Literary Magazine: Winner, 2020 Dream Challenge “Kaden has Covid”
The Maine Review: Hon. Mention, 2021 Embody Award for essay “HIDEOUS”
Sunspot Lit: Finalist, 2020 Inception Contest Flash Fiction “Before and After”
Streetlight Magazine: Hon. Mention, 2020 Essay Contest “Finding Barbie’s Shoes”
Gival Press: Finalist, Oscar Wilde Award 2021 for poem “Self-Portrait at Age 9 as Albert Cashier”
Craft Literary: Hon. Mention, 2021 Flash Fiction Award
North American Review: Finalist, 2020 Kurt Vonnegut Prize