Timia Quincy McCoade
Tear through my flesh
& leave a prayer in my carcass
or slip it behind my ear
on our way up I-95
press it into the dryness of
my palms in December
while I’m too distracted living
the life I dreamed of at seven
I listen to folk & can sit through
feature-length films now
brush through my hair
& shower with the lights on
I call my mother on the weekends, she
likes to hear me build castles in the air
I live my life like an ocean now
& I’m sure of what I’m going to do
No matter the form,
neatly folded or at my knees
leave a prayer, darling,
that I’ll stay the best version of me.
Timia Quincy McCoade is a Medill first-year studying Journalism & English.
