‘On the Occasions When You Have Just Left’ by Francesca McDonnell Capossela

Crying is standing at the Help
Desk, seeking change, with no illusions
about getting it. I am here
for the circular conversation, the appearance of progress.

White octagons bit
into my bare knees as I sat
in what might be considered cowgirl position
on the shower stall floor.

You had just left
the apartment, the melodious thud,
the door-slam had sounded.
A second of noise, tiny shiver
of change.

For the sake of this story, I was
praying. In the formation of sobs, performed pain,
the words came:
Have you tried unplugging it and
plugging it back in?

The possibilities of every word stretched out
like a wingspan, became the beginning,
rewrote the ending.

I am here to chart inertia.

From issue #10: autumn/winter 2020

About the Author
Francesca McDonnell Capossela is an M. Phil student at Trinity College Dublin studying creative writing. Her work has been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Point Magazine, Hanging Loose Magazine, and on VICE.com. She is currently writing her first novel.