Bridging the Gap

By Sarena Pollock

Moonlight reflects off the cracks in our teeth, 

jagged shadows clawing at our jaws: stars disguise our sunken eyes 

as pinpoint galaxies, night air carrying our howls 

past forgotten tombs. The uncertainty of dusk before dawn 

leaves us gasping—the things we’ve left unsaid 

clogging our throats but we laugh  

anyway, let the shortcomings of honesty 

fill the void between our lips, 

truths tucked underneath our tongues 

saved for another day until our cheeks turn hollow. 

For now, before our lungs turn to dust, 

we ignore the blood running down our fingertips, 

leave our trembling lips at the river. 

Our battered palms forsake the strain  

of sleepless nights, morph into constellations  

guiding us toward shelter. 

We pretend the patches of dirt we stand on 

are tunnels to the moon, where our chests 

are no longer craters bearing 

the weight of silent aches— 

we dig and dig, 

particles of rot crumbling from our veins, 

leaving red-stained earth behind us.

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Sarena Pollock (she/her) is a Publications Support Assistant for Montgomery County Intermediate Unit. She graduated from Susquehanna University in 2020 with a BA in Creative Writing, where she was the recipient of the Gary and Elizabeth Fincke Outstanding Senior Portfolio Prize. She is the author of After the Impact (Chrysalis Press, 2019), and her work appears in Chicago Quarterly Review, The Albion Review, and Laurel Moon, among others.