Mind The Gap

You've been the one holding the door shut.

Today I cried after I reached the letter

‘I’

My emotions were duly anointed

Naming the fear, anger, anxiety

Greeting the feelings

Daring to sit with them

and share a cup of coffee

Yes, I see you

you’re not just a fellow

passenger on the commuter express

brain

Nodding off until the last stop 

Track ending in a bricked up tunnel

Acknowledgement meant more than

just a nod in the northerly

direction, instead, a hello

A look exchanged that said

Can you believe this shit?

Tsk, i know

Are we going to be late?

The width of the journey isn’t usually

measured

But what if it’s the right size you

Just think it doesn’t fit

The transformation feels too big

And the wide Sargasso Sea is more vast

Than your soul can contemplate

It takes as long as it takes

Progress stalled, growth stunted until

You unmask the villain like

The meddling kid you are only

To find it was you all along, keeping you

small

Ariel Fox

Ariel Fox is a writer trying to understand what it means to build a home from nothing—no inherited traditions, no family ties, an intentional island. An Azorean-American now living in Connemara, Ireland, her work moves through estrangement, migration, and the quiet, disorienting task of becoming someone new. Her debut poetry collection, Maldita, is in progress.

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All the Places I Didn’t Stay

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Greed Over God