The Scene Freezes

Originally published in Anti-Heroin Chic (forthcoming, February 2026)

I hear my own footsteps
and it feels wrong
to make noise.

A wheel squeals
and every face turns
at the same time.

My throat feels full
and I haven’t eaten.

I pass three women
held in a doorway
and something in the scene freezes.

I don’t know what to do
with my hands.

I don’t know what to do
with my eyes.

Everything is still here—
but it tastes like
the aftermath.