by Jim Ross
How to exit a body (in case of uprising)
1. Stay still.
The skin doesn’t know
it’s being overthrown.
2. Loosen the jaw.
Regret is stored
beneath the tongue.
3. Unhook the spine
from old slogans.
Let them fall
like brittle banners
long past their uprising.
4. Delete the fingerprints.
You won’t need
recognition
where you’re going.
5. Leave the heart
unlocked.
Someone might still
need shelter.
6. Fold your name
into a small silence.
Bury it
under your last breath.
Do not look back.
The body never questions the revolution.
Gordan Struić is a Croatian poet, musician, and lawyer whose work explores silence, memory, and the emotional residue of digital life. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Lana Turner, Ink Sweat & Tears, Stone Poetry Quarterly, Beyond Words, 34th Parallel, Voidspace, and others. He writes in both Croatian and English.
More at: https://gordanstruic.substack.com https://instagram.com/gstruic https://x.com/gstruic
https://bsky.app/profile/gstruic.bsky.social https://www.threads.net/@gstruic https://www.facebook.com/gstruic
Jim Ross jumped into creative pursuits in 2015 after a rewarding research career. With graduate degree from Howard University, in ten years he’s published nonfiction, fiction, poetry, photography, hybrid, interviews, and plays in over 200 journals on five continents. Best-of-the-Net nominated in nonfiction and art, his photo publications include Barnstorm, Camas, Feral, Phoebe, and Stonecoast. Photo-essays include Burningword, Kestrel, Litro, New World Writing, Pilgrimage, Sweet, and Typehouse. Jim’s family splits time between city and mountains.