Routine

I’d rather not
yet you do
again & again.

the trouble is
with trouble
how it lights up
an alleyway

how its breath
balms cellar walls
to sweat

how it picks at
the scab of night
to reveal itself

how it lets you go
just momentarily
long enough
to want it

again & again.

Annihilation.jpg

Art by Manon Le Gall

Manon Le Gall is a young self-taught illustrator based in Paris. She uses drawing as a loophole and plunges us into her often melancholic universe. She illustrates women in scenes of daily life mixing poetry and girl power. Instagram: @mlgillustrations

Kristian O’Hare’s writing has appeared in Cobalt Review, Foglifter, San Francisco State University’s Fourteen Hills, Mud Season Review, South 85 Journal, and Third Coast. He earned his PhD at Western Michigan University, and an MA from Boston University, where he worked with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. He lives in San Francisco.