6 March 2025: My Own Janus Word

MY OWN JANUS WORD

  ~by Wren Logan

inhale for 4 

exhale for 7

i think you and arianne have said that to me, 

though the connotations differ

what do they call you? a contronym

a word that is its own opposite

how deliciously confusing is that

the downward dog to extend your life

the cigarette to shorten it

the car, or perhaps the tarmac, to end it 

sometimes i get so close to acceptance

i beg you for your forgiveness and your mother says i am showered in it

i find myself retracing your steps in a home 

entirely dissimilar to ours 

can i finally breathe you back to life 

even for one last glance

so i assume the pose

count my shortened breaths, cough over the 

billowing cloud of smoke that burns my insides

and my eyes sting and i’m not sure if it’s 

the smoke or the grief

***

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