Bury the Pace

It wasn’t supposed to go
this fast, but it
is and so I’ve accepted
the air pulsing by
as you run,
that one sharp
ridge sticking out
to remind me
you’ll be even more
self-sufficient soon
with your treaded
socks and your stand
and grab and your
barbequed salmon
and tap water.

When I noticed we had
sped up, it was too late
to ask you to slow up
and even if I had, you
wouldn’t know how to
free up that space.

I’m sure it hurts to grow.

You, with your one tooth,
your baba and goo,
your total belief in my
repeated appearance,
the inflammation that mocks
you as you sleep.

It’s all underground now,
past us and through
the roots and the bugs
and the bees. The hopeless
and heavenly trees
stand above, waiting
for a crystallized glimpse
of the precious fuel
that makes happiness go.

back to issue

Sarah Ghoshal earned her MFA from Long Island University in Brooklyn and has two chapbooks, Changing the Grid (Finishing Line Press, 2015) and The Pine Tree Experiment (Lucky Bastard Press, 2015). Sarah recently received a Best of the Net nomination and her poetry can also be found in Yellow Chair Review, Arsenic Lobster, Winter Tangerine Review, Reunion: The Dallas Review and Red Savina Review, among others. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, her happy little baby and their faithful dog, Comet, who flies through the air with the greatest of ease.