Purgatorio by Molly Bilker
transit: a state of getting but not having, going & not being. purgatorio. here waiting for judgment — an older couple, tourists: his shirt African animal print, rounded nose; her hair streaked white and amber, ankles swollen. Do they know where they are? “That map is deceiving,” the man next to me says. if you speak, they will listen. in limbo they’re hungry for stories. today, it’s a black toddler and parents, an overweight Indian asleep in tight soccer shorts, and white men with hair combed back over loss.
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