Sy Brand: Forcing Us to Breathe

Photo: Joanna C. Valente

Omni

Breath slams against windows and runs
down the sides, scratches
on the skylight, scratches
on the glass walls,
circle of salt broken
by a knee cast too wide (no sense
of social grace), a handbag slapping
a foot, the breath
hiding the world,
all hurtling through mist,
trusting, safe
perhaps,
the red light forcing us to breathe
for a second or two,
together.

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Sy Brand is a queer non-binary person living in Edinburgh, Scotland. They write through the haze of cat-/child-induced sleep deprivation to try and make sense of gender, relationships, and ADHD. Their work has been published in Popshot Quarterly among others. You can find them on Twitter @TartanLlama.