September 15th, 2025
by Sophia Zhu
Pall Mall Smooth, in front of Kenny.
I watch the morning birds in line to fetch their coffee.
I see where you are and where I long to be.
Belmont, in my pocket is a half-empty pack.
Along the beach was where I finally got rid of it because you wanted me to.
Now at our usual spot, I read instead to kill time,
since where you are is where I long to be.
It's the hot summer nights and mid-July that make me unbearable for myself,
and the space you left behind, unbreathable.
It's the pairs walking by, where I search for your shape within their shadows.
Despite the sun shining directly in my face, I see you,
in the dark, sitting across and beside me at the same time.
And this reminds me, Dylan,
of all the times you have sat with me through the dark.
Autumn leaves are falling in Auditorium One.
Sometimes, the theatre is empty like that night in 1986.
I pick up the phone and it is always you on the other side.
So, Dylan, this is what I think about when I sit in the dark nowadays.
I lean through the wall to rest my head on your shoulder and wait for the sunrise.
As the daylight sneaks in from my window,
I sneak out to our usual spot.
There, I smoke you lightly back to me,
because now you are right here in my morning coffee.
At Kenny's, I count the days backwards,
to bring myself back to Pall Mall Smooth and Belmont,
where we'd read not to kill time, but to live through it instead.
About the Poet
Sophia Zhu resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Read the poet's biography and Wax Poetry and Art publications
on Sophia Zhu's Artist Page.
This poem is included in Comet #6,
published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Previously published in Vancouver Poetry Magazine:
Light and Memory: Three Photos
by Qi Yue
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