By Hiliary Hamilton
You have become
the shadow at my shoulder
As a pond,
I lie in wait for a stone
to send ripples down my spine
Just one passer-by whispering secrets and sins
to freshly baked bread
A welcome weekly ritual
I live for
telling me I’m not alone
Silent shudders
awaken my resolve
as each morsel is fed to the obliviously grateful fish
Hiliary Hamilton is a poet living in Ohio, U.S. with her family and fur babies. She has published two poetry chapbooks, This Cannibal’s Urn: Musings of an Anxiety-Ridden Insomniac (Alien Buddha Press 2024) and I Dream in Her Voice (Alien Buddha Press 2025). Hamilton has also been published in numerous anthologies and blog posts through The North Meridian Review and Alien Buddha Press.