époque press

pronounced: /epƏk/

definition: /time/era/period

I keep thinking
about the time in high school
when you drew
me
a map of the city,
I still have it somewhere.
It was so easy
to get lost
in a place where all the trees
look the same.
And now
every time I see
a missing person’s poster
stapled to a pole,
all I can think is
that could have been me.
Missing,
disappeared.

But there are no
posters for people
who just never came back
from vacation, from college,
from life.
You haven’t killed yourself
because you’d have to commit to a
single exit.
What you wouldn’t give to be your cousin Catherine,
who you watched
twice in one weekend get strangled nude
in a bathtub onstage
by the actor who once
filled your mouth with quarters at
your mother’s funeral.
The curtains closed and opened again.
We applauded until
our hands were sore.

But you couldn’t shake the image of
her lifeless body,
the way she hung there like a
marionette with cut strings.
And now every time you try to write a poem,
it feels like a
eulogy.
So even though you haven’t
found the perfect ending yet,
you keep writing.
For Catherine, for yourself, for all the lost
souls
who never got their own
missing person’s poster.
Because as long as there are words on a page,
there is still hope for an unfinished exit
to find its proper
ending.

Claudia Wysocky, is a Polish writer and poet based in New York, who is known for her diverse literary creations, including fiction and poetry. Her poems, such as "Stargazing Love" and "Heaven and Hell," reflect her ability to capture the beauty of life through rich descriptions. Besides poetry, she authored "All Up in Smoke," published by "Anxiety Press." With over five years of writing experience, Claudia's work has been featured in local newspapers, magazines, and even literary journals like WordCityLit and Lothlorien Poetry Journal. Her writing is powered by her belief in art's potential to inspire positive change. Claudia also shares her personal journey and love for writing on her own blog, and she expresses her literary talent as an immigrant raised in post-communism Poland.

Of the poem featured here, Claudia states:

‘Unfinished Exit' was born from my own grappling with the complexities of loss and absence, particularly in the context of suicide and the lingering impact it can have on those left behind. The theme of hunger, for me, is twofold in this piece: it represents both the insatiable hunger for closure and understanding, as well as the hunger to be seen and remembered amidst the turmoil of grief.

In crafting this response, I aimed to explore the protagonist's struggle with their own fragile grip on life, haunted by the experiences of those they've lost or left behind. The map metaphor symbolizes a desire for guidance and direction in a world that often feels chaotic and unpredictable, while the missing person's posters serve as a stark reminder of the impermanence of existence.

The poem's title, "Unfinished Exit," alludes to the idea that, even when confronted with unspeakable pain, there is always an opportunity for reclamation and reinvention. Catherine's on-stage 'deaths' and resurrections represent the cyclical nature of life and art imitating life, demonstrating that endings.’

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