Train Overflowing

One man dug into the last seat
as though to disappear

& I didn’t know my husband was dying

Lovers returned to conversation
left mid-sentence and who

was real or imagined
Just say goodbye—

& I didn’t know my husband was dying

Something is here he said lying beside me
but who knew then
what was real or imagined—

I was a closed compartment
with pearls in my mouth
wanting to breathe life back into an oyster shell

& I knew he was dying

Snow followed with its threat of silence
as we traveled into storms; even storms did not want us.

Amy Small-McKinney
Amy Small-McKinney
Amy Small-McKinney’s second full-length book, Walking Toward Cranes, won the Kithara Book Prize (Glass Lyre Press, 2017). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies and have been translated into Korean and Romanian. Her third full-length book & You Think It Ends is forthcoming 2025 (Glass Lyre Press).

Shattered

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