I’ve lost one arm to the air, and I’m afraid the other
is leaving soon. I keep having the same nightmare;
a carnival and I’m driving and my brother has died
and when I write it down it becomes the truth.
Yesterday was the day I went outside & waved
good-bye to all the land that was leaving my family
for good. I bought an apple from a stranger
but all I tasted was air & my Mom kept repeating:
the dog is upset. the dog is upset.
I can’t work in the dark and the horses hate strangers
who show their fear. It makes sense to be happy
when there’s daylight in the barn, but lately I haven’t
been. I can’t explain it, or why darkness exists & shadows
can look like people who have to sell fruit in the rain.
Kay Cosgrove is a second-year M.F.A. candidate at Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has appeared in Autumn Sky Poetry, Chickenpinata, SP Quill Quarterly Magazine and Verse Wisconsin. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.