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Breath & Shadow
Spring 2025 - Vol. 22, Issue 2
"Reasons My Mother Walked"
written by
Charles Richard Livesay
1. It feels good to be on the move
our roots go sideways
up into our people
not buried in clay
2. Mania is a workaholic bastard
who won’t let you rest
for fear of
what might catch you
3. The mountains are a beautiful place
to scream when
you can’t outrun a past
that won’t let go
4. It’s hard to die mid-stride
Charles Richard Livesay is a teacher from Knoxville, TN. His first published poem recently appeared in SpecPoVerse. He also has poems coming from Dreams and Nightmares and Strange Horizons. He watches birds, reads books, and sometimes forgets to take out his earbuds. If he falls asleep like this, The Monkees haunt his dreams.
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