Unfinished Exit

I keep thinking

about the time in high school

when you drew

me

a map of the city,

I still have it somewhere.

It was so easy

to get lost

in a place where all the trees

look the same.

And now

every time I see

a missing person's poster

stapled to a pole,

all I can think is

that could have been me.

Missing,

disappeared.

But there are no

posters for people

who just never came back

from vacation, from college,

from life.

You haven't killed yourself

because you'd have to commit to a

single exit.

What you wouldn't give to be your cousin Catherine,

who you watched

twice in one weekend get strangled nude

in a bathtub onstage

by the actor who once

filled your mouth with quarters at

your mother's funeral.

The curtains closed and opened again.

We applauded until

our hands were sore.

But you couldn't shake the image of

her lifeless body,

the way she hung there like a

marionette with cut strings.

And now every time you try to write a poem,

it feels like a

eulogy.

So even though you haven't

found the perfect ending yet,

you keep writing.

For Catherine, for yourself, for all the lost

souls

who never got their own

missing person's poster.

Because as long as there are words on a page,

there is still hope for an unfinished exit

to find its proper

ending.

Claudia Wysocky, a Polish writer and poet based in New York, is known for her diverse literary creations, including fiction and poetry. Her poems, such as "Stargazing Love" and "Heaven and Hell," reflect her ability to capture the beauty of life through rich descriptions. Besides poetry, she authored "All Up in Smoke," published by "Anxiety Press." With over five years of writing experience, Claudia's work has been featured in local newspapers, magazines, and even literary journals like WordCityLit and Lothlorien Poetry Journal. Her writing is powered by her belief in art's potential to inspire positive change. Claudia also shares her personal journey and love for writing on her own blog, and she expresses her literary talent as an immigrant raised in post-communism Poland.