Unfinished Exit // poetry by Claudia Wysocky

Unfinished Exit

~Claudia Wysocky

 I keep thinking

about the time in high school
when you drew
me
a map of the city,
I still have it somewhere.
It was so easy
to get lost
in a place where all the trees
look the same.
And now
every time I see
a missing person's poster
stapled to a pole,
all I can think is
that could have been me.
Missing,

disappeared.

But there are no posters for people who just never came back from vacation, from college, from life. You haven't killed yourself because you'd have to commit to a single exit. What you wouldn't give to be your cousin 

Catherine, who you watched twice in one weekend get strangled nude in a bathtub onstage by the actor who once filled your mouth with quarters at your mother's funeral. The curtains closed and opened again. We applauded until our hands were sore.

But you couldn't shake the image of her lifeless body, the way she hung there like a marionette with cut strings. And now every time you try to write a poem, it feels like an eulogy. So even though you haven't found the perfect ending yet, you keep writing. For Catherine, for yourself, for all the lost souls who never got their own missing person's poster. Because as long as there are words on a page, there is still hope for an unfinished exit to find its proper ending.

Claudia Wysocky, a Polish writer and poet based in New York, is known for her diverse literary creations, including fiction and poetry. Her poems, such as "Stargazing Love" and "Heaven and Hell," reflect her ability to capture the beauty of life through rich descriptions. Besides poetry, she authored "All Up in Smoke," published by "Anxiety Press." With over five years of writing experience, Claudia's work has been featured in local newspapers, magazines, and even literary journals like WordCityLit and Lothlorien Poetry Journal. Her writing is powered by her belief in art's potential to inspire positive change. Claudia also shares her personal journey and love for writing on her own blog, and she expresses her literary talent as an immigrant raised in post-communism Poland.