The Pause

A space for verse, reflection, and lingering.

O Small Sad Ecstasy of Love By Anne Carson

I like being with you all night with closed eyes.What luck—here you areComingalong the stars!I did a road tripall over my mind and heartAndthere you werekneeling by the roadsidewith your little toolkitfixing something.

Give me a world, you have taken the world I was.

What the Living Do By Marie Howe

Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there.And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up

waiting for the plumber I still haven’t called. This is the everyday we spoke of.It’s winter again: the sky’s a deep, headstrong blue, and the sunlight pours through

the open living-room windows because the heat’s on too high in here and I can’t turn it off.For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the street, the bag breaking,

I’ve been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday, hurrying along thosewobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,

I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush: This is it.Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.

What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We wantwhoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss—we want more and more and then more of it.

But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,say, the window of the corner video store, and I'm gripped by a cherishing so deep

for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I’m speechless:I am living. I remember you.

Running

By Gil-Scott Heron

Because I always feel like running

Not away, because there is no such place

Because, if there was I would have found it by now

Because it’s easier to run

Easier than staying and finding out you’re the only one

Who didn’t run

Because running will be the way your life and mine

Will be described

As in “the long run”

Or as in having given someone a “run for his money”

Or as in “running out of time”

Because running makes me look like everyone else

Though I hope there will never be cause for that

Because I will be running in the other direction

Not running for cover

Because if I knew where cover was

I would stay there and never have to run for it

Not running for my life

Because I have to be running for something of more value

To be running and not in fear

Because the thing I fear cannot be escaped

Eluded, avoided, hidden from, protected from, gotten away from

Not without showing the fear as I see it now

Because closer, clearer, no sir, nearer

Because you of you and because of that nice

That you quietly, quickly be causing

And because you’re going to see me run soon

And because you’re going to know why I’m running then

You’ll know then

Because I’m not going to tell you now

Note: If you would like to feature your verse in The Pause, please write to ubose@mba2026.hbs.edu.

Unnati Bose (MBA ’26) is originally from India and has lived across South Asia and East Africa. She graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce with a degree in Economics. She has worked in consulting, global health, and pharma. In her free time, she can be found asking questions of love, community, and popular culture on her substack, Uno’s Thought Scramble.