Poetry

It’s a Slow Ride


I said yes: And a few days later I met Mina, which in another way made me feel I was moving on to something new.

The train is humming along………………….. ….And in a way
it’s nighttime………………………………………….there I am as well.
Mina and I are making love………………………..For a long time,
and it is really her:…………………………………..I enjoyed doing that.
her words and her legs.………………………. ……I took pleasure
I can’t quite make out her suspicious……… …..in my own
disappointed face.……………………………………particular way.

 

I pause: recognizing that everything that paralyzes me is in my head, myself watching me as I make love.

The train has stopped………………………………But I don’t want that anymore.
at a platform deserted but brightly lit……….. ..I can no longer bear to be locked
somewhere between Tehran……………… ……..in that unchanging scenario,
and Hamedan…………………………………. …….can’t bear to find myself,
but I cannot make out the name…………………no matter how I begin:
There’s nothing………………………………………fine-tuning the workings of the trap
to laugh about………………………………………..that will crush me.

 

I thought: Now it’s over; I’ll do something else. I’ll go toward the outside, toward others, toward life.

The train sets out again,………………………….I find myself thinking
through forests.…………………………………….that it was good
There’s no one left in the car.……………………when there was more of us here
I bestir myself,………………………………………than just one:
half sitting up.………………………………………A curiosity that is
Well it would seem in certain places…………..frankly
hard to make up your mind.……………………..unpleasant.

Untitled design (18)Alexei Perry Cox is a poet, scholar, and critic published internationally. Her writing has recently appeared in Arc Poetry Magazine, Moko Magazine, The Puritan, Fiddlehead, CV2, Makhzin / مخزن, Matrix, Cosmonauts Avenue, Rusted Radishes, Journal Safar (جورنال سفر) The Beijinger, Lemonhound, and The Georgia Review. She is the author of the full length poetry collection Under Her (Insomniac Press 2015) and two chapbooks, Finding Places to Make Places (Vallum 2019) and Re:Evolution (Gap Riot Press 2021). Her forthcoming collection was a finalist for Nightboat books and is forthcoming with Noemi Press in 2021.