Her Morning in Mahattan

[Yonah Jeong]

She wanted to talk to me
I wanted to answer her, too
But we couldn’t reach out to each other
No, her attention wasn’t on me
It was very difficult, but
I hesitated, thinking about it over and over again from behind her back
I gathered my strength and sent my breath toward her
She quietly bowed her head even lower
That unpleasant smell
wasn’t a problem for her at all
As the morning deepened
she tried to straighten her back
but it took her quite a while to gather her strength
Finally, as she slowly straightened her back
our eyes met
Around her mouth
were breadcrumbs
that someone had left behind after eating

When the traffic light changed, I crossed the street.