When you breathe,

I see the map materializing

like it’s a cold day in winter.

I pluck it from the air,

and I am finally able to hold distance in my hand.

It’s a delicate, beautiful flower,

though poisonous to ingest.

 

But when I set the flower on the road,

it blossoms into mileage⎯

millions of feet of choking vines

sprout between our feet.

And it occurs to me that you’re breathing

an hour into the future,

five away from me.

And I want nothing more

than to lie tangled naked in the vines

and swallow the distance

until it kills me

 

Sirenna Blas

 

Sirenna Blas’ short story “Maps & Men” was published in the 2011 winter edition of the Rose & Thorn Journal. Her poem “Paradelle for the Poet” won first place in humorous and satirical poetry in Purdue University Calumet’s Stark-Tinkham writing contest, and “The Sky Swallows Us All” won second place in their short story category. She is a freelance nonfiction writer, as well as a peer tutor at Purdue Calumet’s Writing Center.

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