Known

There isn’t a way
To be both known
And invisible
To be seen
And hide the secret stories
In a misspent sacrifice
That protects other people
At the cost
Of being alive at all
Even I don’t like this
Half real mirage me
Conjured in the hopes
Of belonging
In rooms it never will
The living having no use
For haunted things
So It might be time
To come back
Into this body
No matter what it costs
Because I’ve been paying anyway
Astonishing interest rates
Insurmountable debt
To bright demons who promised
Safety for lies
But never delivered
And all those people
Silence was going to hold safe
Have broken anyway
In a million other places
Even still
There were always pieces
Buried
But they decay and germinate
Into twisted little things
Asking to be seen
Several seasons too late
Perhaps all that’s missing
Is a change in timing
An invitation that arrives
Before the shadow passes over
Before the outcome is certain
the meaning distilled
To elegy and coffee talk
Sitting through the not knowing
Even if only myself
Comes and rests
In my own truth
Wholly open to
Whatever grows out of
The soil of the only soul
I could ever save
Perhaps that is
All It is
To be known

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Rachel Loughlin

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Rachel Loughlin graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University where she received the Undergraduate Poetry Award. She is a graphic designer, eternally optimistic gardener, runner, muralist, and writer living in Richmond, Virginia. Rachel explores the intersections of nature, sensuality, and deconstructed spirituality through her poetry. Her work appears in Pure Slush Books, Green Ink Poetry, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Paddler Press, Flora Fiction Literary Magazine, Musing Publications, Moss Piglet, Plum Tree Tavern, and Kind of a Hurricane Press.

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