Habromania
delusions of happiness
a calendar with june 24th crossed out in blue pen,
water spilling out of a cracked straw,
a fortune cookie that says
you can’t drown forever
a sandless hourglass, and
the stray dog wandering on a deserted beach
with a tag that says “you have to be your own savior”-
all these bad habits collected like marbles.
Treading Water
it’s drowning with
remnants of hope,
despite the dissonance
whispering no one’s coming,
it’s drowning with weights on your ankles,
the depression begging you to lay with him under the waves,
it’s anxiety worrying about what’s lurking in the dark blue,
it’s still having hope that
a rescue ship will come at any moment,
refusing to give up,
but the bickering is tiring,
the water is cold,
and the sand on the bottom looks
more and more enticing.
The Red Sea
have you ever noticed
that men walk down the street
without a care in the world,
as if they’re moses and women are the red sea,
but what if we stopped and
let our waves take up the space
that they deserve,
and when they find out that they can’t cross
the red sea to dry land,
they’ll finally learn how to swim
Alyssa Harmon has her master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of West Florida. She published her debut poetry book, seven years, last year, and she has also published poems in several print and online publications, including Merrimack Review, Minerva Rising, Shaking the Sheets Magazine, and Odet Journal. You can find more of her work on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter @alyssa_harmon_.
The Marbled Sigh 