Poetry
Breakfast with a Friend from Home
Hannah Cornell
issue five
At this early hour
when the sun peaks, orange
people pass
rolling squeaky bags,
shrieking with friends,
or resting across rows of dirty blue seats,
curled up like cats
arms protecting the head.
We talk over lukewarm coffee and
overpriced waffles smothered in syrup and
promise to do it again
sooner than before.
It’s colder when we leave.
She walks me to the station
and we stop to say goodbye,
when we see the man,
squatting in the corner
his pants around his ankles
his hands sliding against flesh.
We part ways then
eyes on the concrete, cracked.
I ride back
alone, among strangers, home.
About the Author
Hannah Cornell is a 24-year-old poet and fiction writer who calls the mountains of Pennsylvania and the suburbs of D.C. home. She dabbles in many genres, but finds much of her inspiration in the natural world, myth, feminism, and memory. She is a current student in American University’s MFA in Creative Writing program and teaches as an adjunct in the Writing Studies department.
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