by SJ Kennedy Scott

It seems that light should be able 
                   to cast its way through me and 
onto my bedroom wall, refract
                    ing into many pleasant shapes 
and shades. This feels less a 
                          reflection on my own self 
image and more a criticism 
                       of the way the world works. 
My father is a laser physicist
                  which is of course another way
 to be a poet. He could tell me a 
                 hundred times how light refracts 
inside a fibre optic cable, but 
                 somehow the truth of the matter 
would still evade me like 
                 something reluctant to be named. 
No matter. No matter.
                               This is the way that it is. 
This is the way that it happens. 
                                  Light will touch most 
things anyway. It is not my 
                                     job to understand it.

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SJ Kennedy Scott is a relapsed student and lapsed poet. Their work has been published in Sunday Mornings at the River, the 6ress, and The Wellington Street Review, among others.