Mesrure Onal
seated across me my parents both
heads tilted in question
olive-skinned and hard of hearing
hardly anglophone
I shrug with a close-mouthed smile
hiding my bloody tongue
smeared and stinging with translation
a passing stranger’s barbs
I cannot chew nor cry nor spit them back out
and so the train shudders beneath me as I swallow them all whole
Mesrure Onal is a Turkish-born and British-raised digital nomad. She mostly works as a writer, editor, and translator for children’s books and small businesses. Her writing tries finding those fistfuls of ink that can make different people from different places feel the same tug at their heartstrings.
Briefly Write 