Fly across the parallel sky... rejoice as you dance
on broken arrows that plunge inside your feet.

You’re bumbling about,
breaking your legs on blades of grass.
Bogged down by savage winds, then
swallowed by some nocturnal beast.

(maybe they won’t find out).

Plastic wings beat as one,
yet you remain stuck to yourself.
Grayscale blood comes gushing out- watch
as you bounce around the jar.

(maybe it’s better off this way).

A thousand beady stares.
A thousand judgements pouring down.
Pollinate to purify,
scrubbing until your bones are raw.

(maybe they will cheer my name).

Your head’s a honeycomb,
sweet daggers dripping from your eyes
like rain.
Like pain.
Like a suit of skin that tears and bends.

(maybe my scream will split the sky).

Wrap the night around your waist... wait until its
blackened stripes have seeped beneath your hide.

Blissfully wading, anxiously waiting
for gentle waves to lay in each other’s lap.
I swirl my finger in playful circles; the water
softly grips, an infant’s hand that *****
with a toothless grin.  

I peer through ripples at the skyscrapers
below, stretching to feel the warm air blow
against their brittle faces. Why did they make them so
tall? The towers then fall, two by two, gradually drifting
besides those who once leapt with terror in their eyes.

Lying back, I witness the ground and the sky become
one ocean, an azure canyon with no walls. I fear if I stand up it
would hit me like the deepest note on a piano, leaving me to drown. I reside myself to a life spent on my stomach, greeted only by the water that kicks me in its sleep.

A beam of light shoots up across the way, like the dawn
breaks the day, like memories distort my reality. Could this be
someone like me? Someone desperate for the touch of flesh, to
remind them how easy it used to be. Back when the sun tickled your nose and the grass stained my skin a sickly green.

No, maybe just a mirror, a reflection. A window to a universe where I am just as lonely; lonely and tired. What would I do if this
was the case? I’d tightly smush my face against the cool glass.
I’d see myself wave goodbye and dive beneath the foamy tide, where I search for a sandy beach to hack up my sodden lungs.

I'm being attacked
I'm under siege.
I hideaway in Daddy's castle, where
monsters can only tickle my feet.

I'm running away
I'm distancing myself.
I hideaway in Daddy's castle, where
pictures of sunshine sit on a shelf.

I smell blood in the water
I see it drip on the moon.
I hideaway in Daddy's castle, where
scaly dragons help me lick my wounds.

I'm losing my mind
I'm not keeping pace.
I topple inside Daddy's castle, where
layers of dust lay caked on my face.

Did you hear, Magic Mirror?

My best friend said she suffers from depression.
Last week, she slit her stomach and tumbling out came a pile of ribbons.
A glittery red, spread out on the bed, they slowly melted through the floor and sank beneath the boiling surface.

Did you hear, Magic Mirror?

The boy across the street says he models for fun.
Except, he doesn't wear any clothes.
Except, there isn't any show.
Just a camera, his stepdad, and four carefully shuttered windows.

And did you hear, Magic Mirror? About the man they found sprawled face down in a ditch?

His skin a soft white, lips a blood red, he'd laid there quietly for a couple of days.
Maybe three.
Maybe five.
Carved jaggedly into his pale forehead: ******.
In fact, all over his mangled body, like a demonic chant that hisses and wails.
******, ******, ******.

Did they ever consult you, Magic Mirror?
Longing for answers of identity and love, you spat in their vulnerable face, cutting them with your vicious shards.
Like soft ash, harsh gasps of air blew them away into the deep blue night, where they gently landed in unrequited tears.

A secret, forbidden.
Lurks through alleys,
hidden.

An icy breath tickles your chest, while
cerulean flames engulf the night.

A cancer, spotted.
Carves a pathway,
clotted.
Jaundiced rooms ebb and flow, purple
tide pools that dejectedly erode.

A pariah, banished.
Whispers to loved ones,
vanished.
Cannot ignore this chemical *****, golden
glitter still speckled throughout her hair.

A human, forgotten.
Splayed on couches,
rotten.
A look of surprise in his childlike eyes, milky
white oceans that lull him to sleep.

Empty boulevards, redolent of scorched tears, stretched out
Across miles of broken backs and good intentions, and
He recalled times of parades, all before
This singular day, which had lasted decades.

His feet, painfully blistered, throbbed like a broken
Heart across mutilated streets lined with
Crumbling mansions that stood vacant, looking down
On beggarly widows absorbed by hot pavement.

The sun bore down on his dark brown brow, while
A bouquet of needles dangled from his arm, reflecting a
Message across the sickly sky:
“How young is too young to die?”

Then, as fiery dusk hurtled towards Earth, he wandered
Slowly towards the edge of the world,
Curled his toes in the dusty sand,
And threw his body into the Rio Grande.

There once was an
awkwardly boyish man who
liked to pick his nose,
especially in public.

One day the man, upon encountering
a monolith of residue, picked too hard
and scratched the inside of his nose, which
began to bleed.

For the entirety of his day, he smelled
the gooey metallic substance swell
throughout his nostrils and tighten
into a scab.