I measured the space between stranger and armrest
surfing swerves on the five o’clock train, aching
feet outweighing my fears. The stranger
protested my body.
I opened a café door, walked in, scanned
the menu for a salad to appease. Metal cutting
my sides and collective distaste as I crunched
lettuce with marshmallow teeth.
I dragged my feet along city streets, ankles
blistering the distance between my friend and I
stretching like Juicy Fruit fresh on the sidewalk, suctioned
to a new pair of shoes. Steps smaller, waist bigger
than five years of friendship ended
over size differences and the time
it took for me to catch up.
I changed my diet sugarless, brain starving
for honey, lifting my knees higher and my heart
working faster to undo
twenty years of feeding my addiction.
Fifty kilograms between worthy, the bitter
reward for aching feet now a welcome smile
and a pat on a gum covered seat.
Author: Nicole Jacobsen is a Brisbane artist, writer, poet, and aspiring editor who regularly finds herself re-befuddled by the difference between who and whom. Her background in Psychology emerges through character studies, obsessive bouts of self-reflection, and recurrent themes of mental health in her work.
Artist: Steph Blinco is a third-year Bachelor of Fine Arts student. As a local Brisbane emerging artist, her practice makes statements about everyday life through collaged imagery. Intertwining psychedelic patterns to create collisions of colour and era, Steph draws influences from autobiographical contexts, ranging from her childhood to her experiences now as a young adult. You can find her on Instagram @stephblincoart.