"The Anatomy of Melancholy," 2023 self-portrait by Laura Makabresku 
ARTS / CULTURE

'The Hollowing'

"And whatever walked there, walked alone." ― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

Amelia Clarissa de Luna Monasterial

The truth is

No place can ever hold me.
But you wouldn't know that
if you saw me.

’Cause I stay
when (say when.)
everyone else leaves.

I am the ghost who haunts⸺
(a ghost is a wish.)

I make a home
where (where?)
others break down walls.

I sit and hold your hand,
while my mind wanders the halls.

My head flies away faster than
my body can
run (run!)

And in some ways,
this is worse than
if I just ()
packed up and gone.

I'll keep running until
I run
off the face of the earth.

No one will and no one can
catch me (please.)
then.

But perhaps you can
take this place that I left,
and find pieces of warmth⸺
little shadows that bear my shape.

When that time comes,
you won't even
know
things have changed.

Because all you'll ever see
is how I can
(and I have.)
make a home for you,
but never for me.

The Prince's Staircase, Château de Versailles