SWATI SUDARSAN
Anyway
I’ve had him on my mind
all day, him his girl his kid
anyway, there is none, just
tectonic tremble rift – I’m not
sure which accident was bigger.
Which anyway happened first.
Anyway begets anyway,
as if I fell into the crack
of the moment, how are you
Anyway? I can’t get him off
my chest, anyway to say his name
but my mouth is full of names,
anyway I say them, Tamir, George, Daunte
any way I can. Never again
can we say them any way but with grief,
is there any way we can? Anyday
now, I will move on, right?
I miss them, the gun did not.
Anyway, what were you saying?
I mean, how are you, anyway?
Swati is a writer based in Oakland, CA. She has received support from the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, Kweli International Literary Festival and Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. She was the Runner-Up of the 2022 So to Speak Contest Issue. Her work appears in The Adroit Journal, Entropy, Dead Skunk Magazine and other publications. Swati can be found on social media as @booksnailmail.