Scrolling Instagram, November 2023

What I used to think would tone my arms / next slide / a man crumpled 
on dirty concrete, someone nearby is lifting a flashlight to the dark, 
someone else using his arms to cut the bloodied limb – you can feel 
the chill, see piles of used and soiled blankets, no one is coming / 
everything 50 percent off! Don’t miss our biggest sale of the / whole
family, gone / my best secret for / being a coward, complicit and 
covered in safety, how dare / You guys! This set is SO comfy, grab the link / look at this mushroom I found, can you believe / I’m here again. We are still here. Have not slept in our beds for over a month. Our 
homes are rubble. See us. There is no food. Where are / you will never 
believe how I finally lost the last / 15,000 pounds of concrete, falling, 
the sound takes longer to reach our ears / is there any love here for 
my new book / poem / body / thought / loaf / outfit / my family 
is missing / all of this happening / five-year-olds wrapped in white bags, their mothers / 5 fun holiday recipes you have to / try carrying your dying child out into a morning with nowhere safe to go, breathing 
in a world that would do this.

Brinn Elizabeth Bagley is a poet living in Utah.