Your Shadow Welcome Here | Kyla Houbolt

I waited hard all during

the start of this war but I kept

being chased to grief

hiding inside this consolation

of stars, hoo-boy, being

invisible is real work

the only reason I'm not impatient

is that I don't care how much I care

or if I do care

but I do want

something to happen, something 

like loss or winning, something

clean as grave dust.

However

well I may remember the thought

it's the rhythm that gets lost

in all that sunshine, all

that reasonable doubt.

Kyla Houbolt (she, her) occupies Catawba territory in Gastonia, NC. Her first two chapbooks, Dawn's Fool and Tuned were published in 2020. More about them on her website, https://www.kylahoubolt.com/ Her individually published pieces online can be found on her Linktree. She is on Twitter @luaz_poet.