[a literary magazine]
[ Issue #2 ]
The Crack Between Us
by k.p.fen
i give up on trying to hold
onto the departing or the departed
the fractured the don’t-put-me-back-together
as fragments of my past deliberate leaving
like old friends shuffling in front of a familiar bar
silence slicing through every sentence
their hands slowly slipping off common threads
before they know it the gap broadens
and neither one can leap far enough to reach the other
but they continue to text every six months
wish the other a happy birthday
a Merry Christmas a Happy New Year
because keeping is easier than starting over
is easier than letting go
i trace a sidewalk crack with my foot
thinking of the days we used to avoid them like lava
sometimes it’s tree roots sometimes it’s unsettled ground
but the crack always appears eventually
and we almost always resort to ripping it all apart
k.p.fen (she/her) is a Filipina-American who resides in New Jersey with her loving husband and cat. She tries not to define herself by occupation or her mental illness, but recognizes they continue to shape her life. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in The Post Grad Journal, Inklette Magazine, Vagabond City, Rigorous Magazine, In Her Space Journal, and New Note Poetry. You can find her reading at open mics throughout the state and on Instagram at @inkdroplets.