by Alais Mara
Misunderstanding sucks the sun out of the sky
leans the walls in and expands my heaving heart until all I see is red
all I feel is the urge to run.
You smile and tell me,
All of these shadows are harmless, my love.
While you smooth out the knots of someone else’s day
and my own muscles bunch, wring their tense hands.
How do I distance myself from my own feelings?
We’re running out of toilet paper.
We aren’t worried.
Easier to talk about toilet paper than helplessness
God! There is no way to navigate the strange pathways of my own heart.
I put my back to the sun because I’m not ready for that kind of clarity.
