This poem came out of a difficult time in summer 2025 where the idea followed a day of walking along the Sázava river in central Czechia earlier that year. It explores the tension and space created between two people when something is left unsaid or misunderstood, the aspects of identity we find in each other, and how we can so often elude each other, even those who care for us most. 

Garrett L. Odom is a writer from Alabama. He holds an MA in English from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and received a scholarship to attend the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Following his studies, he worked in manufacturing before leaving to go abroad. He now lives in Prague, Czechia.

I: @g.l.odom