The years fall from you all at once

I know that now. we spent a season

watching the cat shed, after all

and she licks her paws the way I wish

I could sing: full of confidence,

a luckless success.

And so:

I’ve written about

what it’s like to be denied

but I don’t really know what it’s like.

I’ve walked into traffic,

not thinking

and found myself

in the wake of death

she pulled me by the arm

away from the light

and threw me into some

lurid highway park-and-ride

and that’s the closest I’ve ever gotten.

Jan Rosenfeld is currently a student at Berklee.