‘Smile Back’ & ‘If I Cannot Run’

Photographer - Tobi Brun

Smile Back

Threads weave through flesh and bone
Strung up like a toy
I smile brightly

We used to dance and cry
Then the hands sewed us uptight
Their threads wove through flesh and bone

Sitting on this shelf
We collect dust and lose ourselves
I smile brightly

I wish I could look at you
I remember your screams
When threads wove through flesh and bone

With a mouth full of cotton
And lips drawn tight
I smile brightly

I long to pull your stray threads
But I want you to keep smiling

Threads weave through flesh and bone
We smile brightly

If I Cannot Run

Painted brightly
Adorned with saddles
We run

Children laugh as we bob
Running, always to the right
Cheerful organs sing merriment

Moss spouts between planks
Those who crawl and caw call us home
The music loses its cheer

We stopped running
The children aren’t here
We rot where we stand

They choose compliance
But I know what we are, and I must run
If I cannot run, then I will crawl

Legs meant for decoration stumble
A pole meant for support drags against the dirt

Wooden eyes meant to be admired stare uselessly

Children laugh
Giggling and clapping
They play out of sight

Chipped hooves scape concrete
My stiff neck turns
I crawl ever forward, always, a bit to the right

Clover V. Gislason, he/they, is a hospitality administration student at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. They grew up in a traditional family and used writing an outlet, but they grew up and got less respectable writing became a passion. Although his life is much better than before, the underlying tone of despair never quite left. Instagram @m0th_eater