A man boxes with the tile columns on the 13th street trolley platform. It’s not beating him but he definitely isn’t winning.
There’s another man behind the column, but he’s fine.
The boxer feels
he’s quick but not quick enough
he feels
and he fights, the tiles this time
the air this time
Coach
“Harder”
Something I can’t hear
The air, he fights, the air
they discuss them
the air, the air
There are mice crawling out from his ears.
There are rats under his feet.
The trolleys don’t stop. The punches keep flying. The rats keep running.
Hallelujah.
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Lindsay Hargrave is a poet, one quarter of the improvised music group Oarsman, the author of a poetry column in the Philly Plain Dealer and a copywriter for Temple University. Proceeds from their debut chapbook ROT (2022) benefit ARC Southeast. Read more at https://linktr.ee/Hargrave or follow @notporkroll on Twitter.
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image: MM Kaufman
Rejection Letters 