by Katelynne Davis

A layer of fog, worthy of London
though the city wasn’t.
I walked into it, hoping to be swallowed.
Though the night was set for horror,
street light slashed by tree branches
and every glow only making it harder to see
I was not scared.
There was nothing lurking in that darkness that could make my life more ordinary
and that was what I truly feared.
I am almost twenty-six
and I would rather face a dragon
than a life narrowed by envelopes with numbers
arriving in installments.
I followed the will-o-the-wisps
and willed they not be streetlamps
Thinking how Irish legends moved between worlds
I splashed in the puddles; no avail.
Last night an owl landed in my path and looked at me
its kill – a young hawk – in its talons.
I wanted it so much to be a sign
of – anything.
As invisible as I try to melt
I still pass a cafe, face a glimpse –
and my life twists up in my stomach, reminding me
I can’t escape that way for long.

---

Photo by Katelynne Davis