last ~ poetry

training

i want to let a train loose on the seams

of our breakdown and watch the struggle

struggle to hold it down when it horns

a thousand hands stuck out in rushed goodbyes.

but the one hand that doesn't, that stays

wrapped in a lap like a pearl unashamed

of its withdrawal, is a difficult bridge

to cross, a bridge that makes a noise

like the one my heart made when i heard

my sister kick my mother from the inside. 

~ ajay

1/10/2024