Ouroboros: A POEM

Ouroboros

Hannah Cornell

I daydream about circles as I sit amongst boxes

alone, packed with things I no longer have a place for.

When my mom calls, I half-listen to the sounds of home –

dogs barking, my father laughing - familiar, but distorted

by a hiss. I say I’m tired and hang up early with promises

of calling tomorrow, once settled and sorted through the pieces

of myself, bits of shed wrapped in cardboard. I lay in bed awake, for hours, thinking

about old gods in old feuds, ripping serpents from the earth with bleeding hands.

I am convinced the world ends with flames and iron and things that chase themselves.

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Hannah Cornell is a second-year MFA student who specializes in both poetry and fiction. She is the current Editor-in-Chief of Cafe MFA. You can find her on instagram @hannahgencornell and on Bluesky @hgcornell.bsky.social