by Leslie Grollman

                                                                      Frayed laces on my running shoes
                                                                A snagged sock
                                                     Too-long fingernails clicking keys
 
A sunrise tries
                                              A rain puddles the walkway

            Tighten the hoodie, the wind

Too early for traffic      never too late for loss

                                                                   As if another chance

A day begins that way

Gulls soaring in formation
A cloud here and there
                          dispersing as if to disengage
            As if I could kin a cloud

                               Overripe bananas on the windowsill, again

                                                Midnight Mac-’n-cheese-childlike-wonder

                   Still and all, breath

Breath of a hard return
                               A barely-there look     

                   Breathe

     Brie on sourdough
     Espresso, black and sweet

               The heat

                                  As if to clip coupons like they were an answer
                                  As if      a soluble vitamin brought the real sun
                                  As if              cobbles weren’t begging me stay
                                  As if                          mom-and-apple-pie sated                                     
                                  As if                                            the night fatigued
                                  As if                                                  it all won’t end




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Leslie Grollman’s work appears in Yolk, Spoken Word Scratch Night, Writing Utopia 2020 Anthology, The Selkie, Together: An Anthology, Thimble, Nailed, Pathos, From Arthur’s Seat, other publications, and is forthcoming. Leslie was chosen to be a reader for one of Octopus Books’ open reading periods. She holds an MSc Creative Writing, Poetry, with Distinction, from the University of Edinburgh.