Illustration by Dora O’Neill & Charlie Blodnieks

the other day I
befriended a butterfly in
Brownsville—
black and brilliant beneath
the shade,
sounding an echo:
gentle chords
against
a hearth drowned
in something
harsh.

mmmm but
I can
taste it

feel like I
can look at strangers
like
they could look at me
back like
choking
on the attraction of onesome
adulthood

but to look
means to yearn and
to yearn means to lack and
to lack—
well.

I have discovered
two ways of riding
the subway.

I have learned the most
underneath the east
river but the ground
yields
in ways water
does not.

Riya Mirchandaney, CC ‘20, is a neuroscience major, part-time lab rat, and professional private tweeter. You can find her having a crisis—of identity, existence, or confidence—at least once a day. Find her on Instagram here.