Mary Klein

We were never meant to see the inside of this mountain.
They cut it in half for the interstate,
It’s nude and jagged. 
I’m driving South. 
I remember everything.
I think about Kentucky and littering.
Last year we went to the riverfront
And took six bullet shells.
People are dying.
This café is playing Sugar Hiccup.
Okay.
The sky is error blue 
And at night it’s mauve.
The trainyard cries so loud.
I remember everything. 
The streetcar goes one way.
Crabapples fall and burst
On Ohio Avenue.
I take it personally. 
When this world ends 
And the next one begins,
I’ll bring this with me.
Cops and carcinogens.
Cardamom pastries.
We killed two mice in the apartment.
A bad portrait of him
Looks me in the eye.
Sorry.
Everyday is an emergency.
I try and listen for my heart
To remind myself.
I must always remind myself.
Swollen pause.
I know you feel it,
Desperation, and yet,

I have everything I could ever ask for.

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Mary Klein is 20 years old and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. www.maryroseklein.com