memorizing tree lines
memorizing tree lines
in the early morning.
I have yet to sleep
the pillow smells cool and distant
no matter the day,
somehow it has never smelt different.
I am called back again and again and againandagainand—
I awake as I never have before
count the steps
one
two
three
four
familiar
words
creak on a foreign tongue
forsythia taptaptap against my fingertips in the pouring rain. deer do the same number they have
always done.
the dogs have barely just begun
I’ll spit and drink thelightgulpingdowneverydripdrop. I promise. the promise has barely just
begun.
Biographical Note: Flora Trost is currently a sophomore at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she majors in Screen Studies and minors in Creative Writing. She is originally from Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania.