The hospital vending machine drones an accompaniment to the febrile bouncing of my foot: rubber kissing laminate.

You could be anywhere by now.

When I tip my head back, I see stars: souls trading places, a life for a life. We should be out there, where the air tastes sweet.

A translator by trade, Lesley Warren lives for language. Born to Welsh and Filipino parents and now resident in Germany, her work encompasses themes of identity, displacement and “otherness”. Her poetry and prose have been published in a number of digital and print journals as well as appearing in a podcast.