When faced with the width of the world, what can we choose?

footsteps

on concrete                echo

bounce     off            the walls

and                                   disappear                an

afterthought    waning                                                              smoke the

moon                     

out of sight do I tire of                     nothing

for a reason                              silence                     ricocheting

within                    skies and             their

faded   midday                             pain

peppered    heaving                                       strands

of white          horizons               do not   bend

and shouldn’t        instead

I             turn

away

Process

This poem was written in the process of trying to pin down a very particular feeling. The one that taps on your shoulder when the world seems so large and you seem so small. The voice echoing in the dark type of feeling. Most of the poem came to life in the editing stage, where I took out words and phrases that diluted this emotion I was trying to capture. After some feedback from my peer mentee, Nyilah, I was also able to change the ending into something that I felt better works for the poem and for what I intended of it. Finally, I chose to present the poem in all lowercase, and with a spacing that feels like the poem is falling away.