as long as we stand here
with our faces turned
towards the bleeding blue
unblinking:
as long as we keep clutching
these dead tree trunks
breathing only
towards tomorrow
they will not come for us
but once we pick up that bag
shrug them off and start walking
(me like someone
with a purpose
you like someone who could not
conceive of such a thing as a
backwards glance)
they will come
and they will be
too late
Author Bio:
Laura Theis is an award-winning musician and writer and her short stories, songs, radio plays and poetry have been broadcast and published in the UK, Germany, and the U.S. Her new work is forthcoming in Strange Horizons, The London Reader, Enchanted Conversations and from Three Drops Press.
She has gained a Distinction in Creative Writing from Oxford University, is the recipient of the 2017 AM Heath Prize, and sings about mermaids, monsters, and strong women on badasssnowwhite.bandcamp.com