Hoodie Season

Asya Stepnova

photo credit: Asya Stepnova

A collection of hoodies
like human shells
to warm and protect
If I can’t see them
they can’t see me, right? 

A disguise is not a bandaid
from the chaos of the world
You thank me for making your life
a slice of heaven, you say
I type it out: Ka-Pu-shon 

I come back to my nickname for you
Or is it your nickname for yourself?
The farther I go, the easier
it feels to love you from afar

We wear our purchased warmth over our bodies
leaning our heads back
in our separate corners of the Earth
The eternal peace of the head
cushioned & resting on the back of the metro seat 

Our journeys, disconnected by distance,
run like veins coursing blood
through the maps of a sick and dying world

Asya Stepnova is a New York-based writer and photographer. She holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from SUNY Purchase and is currently pursuing her Creative Writing MFA at CCNY. Her work has been previously published in Lovers & Other Strangers. She also has script translating credits from translating plays from Russian to English. Asya seeks to use writing as a means to connect with others and make sense of the insanity of the world. IG: @euphoricblockbuster Twitter: @ic3uh