EMMA MCCOY

Despite

Like a badger who carves 
a large hole in the mountainside
and burrows, curls in on itself
and sighs, I know there is loneliness
within me. Not the kind to love
like a wound, rock like a chair,
no, but the kind who arrived with bags
heavy and insistent
and who burrows in my chest
without leaving. Yes, without leaving.
Still a child in the head, lately
learning how to live.

Despite this, I am making breakfast
and eating peach slices with a knife
against my thumb. The last
of the summer rain drips through the screen
door and I wonder how my brother’s family 
is doing. I wear a too-big shirt
draped over my chest— 
it doesn’t hurt right now.
I eat another slice of peach. 

Emma McCoy is the Associate Editor of Last Syllable and a poetry reader for Whale Road Review and Minison Project. She has two poetry books, the forthcoming This Voice Has an Echo (2024) and In Case I Live Forever (2022), and a nomination for Best of the Net 2023. She’s been published in places like Stirring Lit, Cosmic Daffodil, and Thimble Mag. Catch her on Twitter: @poetrybyemma