She Broke Away

by Ryan Di Francesco


​​

​
​once

starving in Toronto

I bartended at a dive
on Queen St. West

and

I was on the patio
at 3:00 a.m.

alone

smoking a cigarette

--after kicking out
all the leftover drunks--

hearing the flies swarming
under summer alley lights

humming like all those
neon signs in Chinatown​

contemplating
as I looked up
at darkly
lit windows
of the condo facing me

and

saw the silhouette
of a woman’s body
with long hair
like lake waves
moving imperceptibly
with a sense of such purity

in the night

on the fourth floor--

until she broke away

from her shadow
with a
sweet
and
sad
moan.

​
Ryan Di Francesco is a Canadian writer and teacher. He is the editor-in-chief of Shadow and Sax.


​​​​​​SHARE - Issue: 1.8 / April 2026