My birds,
a winsome kaleidoscope of colour and sound
I stand within myself in my clearing, a tiny, circular garden
filled simply with encroaching trees and
a circle of pale concrete underfoot

Marred only
with snaring daisies, quiet
allure, and I take the time to romance the colours I behold so dearly
as they swim through my blurred, jarring vision and as I
melt wholly into the river beside me.

My garden is the only good left in this world
especially now that I have left it.

The only way you knew how to dance
Was to sway your hips haphazardly
Off beat Back and forth Side to side
to hazy savage glaringly ***** music
I would sit in the passenger seat and watch
With the car door ajar and the
Seatbelt light blinking
The only way I knew how to dance was to close my eyes and visualize the
Gospel of the orange and pink and cloud paint splatters
And so we were in perfect synchronization
Like symphonic harmony
My eyes closed but yours wide wide open
Not a moment of hesitation between one second of action to the next
Except when it came to opening my eyes
I would watch you succumb to your assimilated actions
And we would welcome
The droplets of a newborn rain storm attaching to our clothed backs and bare shoulders
Laden across a field
We were not allowed to be on this field they had football practice
but we were anyways
The air was of a room temperature and caressed our fingertips
How did we manage to articulate to each other
What it feels like to be enveloped
in reality’s arms
Your hair was almost the
Color of mine but your skin was usually a lot
Paler
But in the summer it would turn bronze
When you held up your hand and against
The cotton candy sky you looked like
A shiny brass statue of a Greek god
We thought we were Zeus and Hera but
Were Sisyphus and Merope
Bare legs meant mosquito bites but
They drew satirical constellations across our calves
Like a sadist reminder of irony
We existed in perfect destruction because
The birds had left but
The moon had stayed
I felt my ragged fingernails frighteningly grasping at
The remnants of a pathetic twilight
I don’t think I can ever look you in the eye again
And then I blinked just once and
The sky had turned indigo and the chill of cicadas and summer night set in
And I was intrinsically alone with no ***** music and swaying hips and summertime lies
Deceit had evaded me but it surrendered to you
And with your presence left my respect
This celestial ship will carry our mundane bodies back to shore
But I tangoed for one
And put on my seatbelt and closed the car door

I looked up and I couldn’t see the end of it but I knew it was there
Sunshine glimmered against the surface like
Cling wrap
Infinite horizons meant intrusive thoughts
If only I could bring myself to jump
Small children giggled in a row
Stumbling over each other’s oblivious actions on the dirt-caked path
Brought a smile to my face because they couldn’t help it
Panting puppy dogs sent a haze of debris into the air
Enticed the girls, sitting on a blanket
Who didn’t care to understand the appeal of fishing
Families of several walked by substance abuse and crude jokes
Disapproving looks but no one really cared
The sky was cloudless but the air was smoke ridden
We took a short nap
The sun set over the train tracks so the sky never turned pretty
But the melted blue meant we were to go now
So we walked past gurgling babies and smiling mommies on the dingy trail
And drove home with the windows down and it was an icy wind that bit our earlobes
The speaker screamed hey good lookin and we sang as we became enveloped in the
Blanket of wilderness

That girl in your class
She laughs,
Her smile lights up an entire room.

That girl in your class
She has great grades,
She doesn't even have to try.

That girl in your class
She has seemingly amazing friends who care about her.

That girl in your class
She has scars,
Lines marking her body,
And friends that don't notice.
And some that don't care.

That girl in your class
Doesn't remember what it's like to not cry.
She cries herself to sleep every night.

But hey,
She smiles.
So she's okay.
Right?

ordinarily paranormal
in multiple realms of existence
just a ghost they say
but i feel it in this dimension
fading in and out repeatedly
hello goodbye hello again
chilling my bones with this feeling
this haunt has just begun