Charles Bridge 

Sophie Panzer

My first day in Prague, I cross a bridge older than my country.

Vanilla ice cream for breakfast dripping in the doomsday heat

on cobblestones damp with age, old blood.

Eyes on my red crop top flashing pale white

stomach over dark blue jeans.

Hello, my name is American, short for, the world is mine.

Sophie Panzer earned her BA at McGill University and currently works as a journalist. She is the author of the chapbooks Bone Church (dancing girl press, 2020), Mothers of the Apocalypse (Ethel Press, 2019) and Survive July (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2019). She has edited prose for Inklette and Scrivener Creative Review. Her work has appeared in HOOT Review, Coffin Bell Journal, The Hellebore, Gingerbread House, PULP Literature, carte blanche, and others.