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Title:       Emigration
Date:        2026-04-23
Link:        https://spool-five.com/poetry/2026_apr23_villanelle/
Word Count:  149
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> And speaking of forms, today’s (optional) prompt takes its inspiration
> from Kiki Petrosino’s loose villanelle, “Nursery.” Try your hand today
> at your own take on a villanelle, and have the poem end on a question.


Long lost art of saying goodbye
When old friend is travelling far
And you, stuck in the mud

Back in your hometown
You get a message the next day
to say, "I've arrived!"

Australia is sunnier than I expected
Is it really goodbye, when they're still
there, right in your face?

On mobile lock screen, or video call
Somehow more present now than
When they lived down the road

And don't you know, they'll be back
soon, when housing crisis is resolved
A decade or two, or maybe next week

Lost art of saying goodbye
People hang around forever now
Claustrophobic, agoraphobic,
undersea cables, pulling ever tighter