Running In Reverse

By Anjali Tadavarthy

The world moved in reverse and she ran forward.

Anjali saw her run, and wept her same tears But Cora kept running, to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.

She had to run to stop moving. If she stopped so would the world

She wasn’t going to stop until she found home.

The light around her was inky black, like the ink of a squid.

She can taste the bitter air as it passes through her lips. The air sounds fuzzy and still.

She feels the air heavy as a wet wool blanket on a cold March day.

She smells the sweetness of the world, and sees the darkness.

But she knows that if she stops the world will end.

She wasn’t running at all.

The amorphous world passed her by. Everything she saw, was as clear as day. Eventually she will find her way home. She knocked on the unsympathetic door, but the door snickered and turned her away. The voice in her head whispered, “Just give us five more minutes.”

She bounced with grief, and leaped with misery.

Everything around was a schlampige Sache. She had to leave to see that everything stayed the same. She pushed off and jumped into the sky, she flew away from that one-way town. She ran in the cold dark and wet streets.