© 2021 by Maria Muzdybaeva
3. Run: February
It’s a dark and cold evening
(one of many), but here I am,
breathing, running.
It’s slippery as hell—as its ninth circle—
but I’m glad
to be catching up with the world.
Although I sat at the office all day
and missed the rain,
I can now feel
its aftermath
under my sneakers’ soles.
And I respect this ice and slush
like I respect matches and safety razors
and all the wonderful
dangerous things
that demand your full focus.
So let the cold creep
through my thermal socks—
I don’t mind.
I’ll still outrun it.