In the Spaces We've Built

In the station,
calculating the excessive space
between the curved platform 
and the train car doors.

To borrow a chapter title
from a survival guide
on sustainable urban transit,
“Mind the gap.” 

All it takes is an educated step
in a different kind of shoe.

Heel, toe, press,
heart drop—
the momentum of crossing into another zone,
and landing clean
on the other side.

Later, back home,
spoon dried flowers into a sachet,
turn the seam,
stitch shut 
what needs keeping.

Sweat and lavender steeped together,
a trace of city still there.

The perfume of fleeting liberation
from the hassles of traffic laws 
and gender norms.

This poem won’t show you
how to talk your way out of a parking ticket
unless you turn it inside out.

by Kayla Kennett