"Chicken" he called out, "don't you remember?"
"You like beef" she shook her head "It's always been beef"
"College" he smiled "In college, I always ate chicken"

She nodded
She thought

"Well, you at least crunched it up" she reassured herself
"You crunched it up and ate it like soup"

"No. Never" his smile began to fade "That was you"
"Do you not remember?" he asked
My favorite food
Our wedding date, our romance, our love

I watched from the hall
This fight isn't real
These problems aren’t real enough
At least now I know why I like chicken ramen
And why I like it crunched

Clink Clink
A fork, a knife
A cork, it bounces
Soft velvet cloth

Sip Sip
A glass, a bottle
A napkin, it unfolds
Black leather heels

Vroom Vroom
A wheel, an engine
A key, it turns
Brown comfy seats

Flap Flap
A rod, a curtain
A moon, it shines
Person fast asleep

Scribble Scribble
A pen, a chair
A drawer, it opens
White lined paper

Our society is screaming
And you-you can’t *** here
Except…

You

Totally

Could

You know I wrote a poem once,
They said it wasn’t funny
They said it was too dark and symbolic
They said it should be more sunny

You know I wrote a poem once,
They didn’t like it one bit
They went on and on about how it didn’t rhyme
They threw one great big fit

You know I wrote a poem once,
They originally tried to discover the meaning
They soon enough decided it wasn’t fun anymore
They were hideous and awfully intervening

You know I wrote a poem once
I wrote it about them
I told them it would be upbeat and rhyme this time
Ha, but it didn’t

I was born in California,
but haven't been there since
So...have I ever really been?

When I was little, I took a trip to Mexico
But I don't remember one bit
So...does that even count?

Three years ago, I wrote down on my bucket list:
One day I want to see a firefly
I want to see it shine
And not just one, but hundreds
I want to see a whole swarm, delicate as fairies
Off on their mission to warn the world,
Nighttime has arrived

Two years ago, my mother found it and said to me:
What are you talking about,
Fireflies?
Why you and your brothers used to fly with them all the time
You would get a jar, probably one we called Mason even if it wasn't
And you would lock them up inside, prisoners
A type of Stockholm syndrome, where the captors are captivated by the captees

At that moment, I could have erased seeing fireflies from my bucket list and my dreams,
But I didn't
Because that little girl with the jar has lost herself,
and to find herself again... she MUST see a firefly

the thread was caught
stuck on mine
unraveling more and more
every second getting farther
yet closer at the same time

then the thread snapped
and it was done
back to before
but not like it never happened

eye contact
a precious thing
when you look At someone
you might let it sink in for a moment

others
they look away
to them eye contact is quick
a sudden dart of eyes towards and back

now eye contact
well it’s nothing like when your eye
when your eye gets caught
gets caught on another person's eye

you were not looking at them
they were not looking at you
but when moving your eyes or heads
your eyes simply gravitate towards each other

your eyes were like magnets that all of a sudden
all of a sudden were connected
neither of you tried
it just happened

this look is short
but it is not a dart
it’s a smooth move of the head
where for one second your eyes are one

the thread soon pulls itself back together
like rolling up a roll of toilet paper
you compose yourself
but for half a second you were the least composed you ever could’ve been.

You held my water in your hands
I wasn’t even thirsty yet

I placed a bucket below you,
To catch the water if it fell through the cracks

Her thoughts became your thoughts
When your thoughts were bored

Your brain would go to bed at night
And your dreams would come to find mine

She would only call me,
When nobody else would answer

I reached out to her
When nobody else was there

But, a ventilator can only keep a person going for so long

It’s crisp and it’s shallow and it’s deep
It moves softly and swiftly
It disappears, it wasn’t made for you

The clouds disperse as planes and birds move transparently
Little kids spinning in circles
First elephants, then flowers then people

You grab onto your hair as you walk in the direction of the wind
The world disguised in fog, then a quick puff and everything changes
Even with just the windows open, you can see your breath

Somewhere three bears set their food out to cool
A scent fills the air
People are drawn to it, a girl with golden hair

You grow up and you learn
Stratus, cirrus, cumulus
Soft long fortune tellers

Your not a child anymore,
These clouds aren’t served with meatballs
You're on your rocking chair now

There’s lemonade and ice and a straw
You think money, you think friends, you think summer
The nice ones would pull over in their car and stop

It’s hot outside, yet when they roll down their window
They are hit and they feel it
Life changes when the sky breathes