The Literary Forest Poetry Magazine

legs, arms, bodies

a silent embrace; warm and familiar

but also necessary – and I speak not of two lovers

but of a single soul, wrapped into itself

no one to hold but the frail hands

which attach to the hollow chest,

which inside exists a cavity –

and nevertheless,

the mind has thawed;

however, with regret I inform –

little progress has been made

on the freezer-burnt soul.

Ren Oakes is a high school student from Ontario, Canada. She has been writing as a pastime since elementary school, and in middle school she discovered her love for poetry. Over the past year, this passion has grown, and today, poetry has become an important form of her self-expression. Her other interests include playing the piano and the violin.