Refusal
Sarah Elkins
Shuffling through life
honey-tongued, wanting
to be understood—
How do you say cease
in Yiddish? Uncle?
I hear the trash truck
rumble up the hill,
the plane descend,
but not the handshake
you make with yourself
in the moment
you decide this is it.
I can’t defend
the gut trouble,
the vertigo, the inability
to write a legible note.
The autonomy
of refusing water
is a sort of yes.