When I removed
the ring I had
been wearing for
a decade, a ghost
ring remained
underneath — the skin
slightly paler
where the gold
had been — my finger
cinched where it
had been constricted
as I prepared to
step into the night —
The Decision
Timothy Liu
Timothy Liu is the author of nine books of poems, including Of Thee I Sing and Say Goodnight, and winner of the 1998 PEN Open Book Margins Award.