Degree

Strip awake
futile pressure
where magnetic puddles
formulate
this classified center
of 3 years -
a broken soul
living
on a handout.

Where does
fault reside
when trains are missed
and drowned signals
no longer qualify these echoes?

I’ve searched for myself
in this mall before
but only found disadvantages
among sale racks
unable to purchase
desired identity.

Don’t ask me
why I’m
attached
to these inept
perspectives
of measurements
and civility as if
they are acts of grandeur
or hope
a meaningless leap of faith
fabricated to harness
these damaged tissues.

Margot DeSalvo (Ed.M, M.F.A), a college composition and creative writing teacher, is currently working on various writing projects that portray the complexities of depression and the nuances of introspection. Some of her work has been published or is forthcoming in Califragile, Sonic Boom, Clarendon House Publications, The Pangolin Review, Whale Road Review, Soft Cartel, Streetlight Press, Dying Dahlia, Flatbush Review, and Teaching English in the Two-Year College.