Soul Chunk

I found a piece of myself
behind the refrigerator.
For years, it crouched
inside my wiring,
mesmerized by the motor’s
slow hum. The fragment
looked irritated, like it
had waited a long time
and expected a better host.
I will give it a place on my shelf
between family photos and
all the books I never read.
Perhaps, after a few decades,
it will finally call me home.

Poem by Leah Mueller

Image by Adam Strong

Leah Mueller is the author of ten prose and poetry books. Her work appears in Rattle, NonBinary Review, Brilliant Flash Fiction, Citron Review, The Spectacle, Miracle Monocle, New Flash Fiction Review, Atticus Review, Your Impossible Voice, etc. She is a 2023 nominee for both Pushcart and Best of the Net. Leah’s flash piece, “Land of Eternal Thirst” appears in the 2022 edition of Best Small Fictions. Her contest-winning poetry chapbook, “The Failure of Photography” will be published by Garden Party Press in Summer, 2023. Website: www.leahmueller.org.