the coarse coast

we’re born like we wake up

eyes closed until they’re open grunts

before words we die like we’re falling

asleep over time, we all fall asleep

differently

not like grief; grief is all at once, a blow

and then a drift over sharp rocks, then

coarse sand then pavement but the sand

gets in everywhere, never really goes away

and what I mean is

these beginnings feel like endings to me

because they are

your beginning feels like an ending for me

and I can’t even say it out loud to you,

to me, in English, in any way

din början känns som ett slut för mig

jag hoppas att det inte alltid känns så

Sam Rose is a writer from Northamptonshire, UK and the editor of Peeking Cat Literary. She is a three-time cancer survivor and a PhD student, researching the connection between creative writing and cancer survivorship issues. She has been published in over 50 literary magazines and anthologies. Her memoir “Gut Feelings: Coping With Cancer and Living With Lynch Syndrome” is out now on Amazon. Find her at https://www.writersam.co.uk and on Twitter @writersamr.