I saw my shadow laid out before me on the wall, and it was bigger than me, and frightened of itself. When it began to run, I dragged it back and sewed it back on in a ****** mess. Sometimes you pin to yourself the things that scare you the most, because at least fear is a black-or-white emotion. Sometimes I walk through the darkness inside my own home, and sometimes I trip and stumble on furniture edges and shoes near the doorway that were forgotten. I walk around and around, my eyes never fully adjusting to the darkness, but around and around I go. Because it is the only time in my fleeting existence where I don’t think about who I am, for I am too preoccupied with the paranoia in my head that there might be demons forever watching me. Occasionally, they chase me up my stairs on their hands and feet, growling and snarling obscenities unimaginable to anyone else except for inside my own head. I wonder what would happen if one day I made it to my room too late and they caught me. I wonder what the insides of other people’s heads look like.

Learn to swim or else you'll be swallowed by the ocean.

(C) Tiffanie Noel Doro

she gathered up the fragile flowers
carried them softly as a child
in the stillness of late summer air
with a gentle song rolling slowly through her heart
a memories palace where her heart often goes
a beautiful place where love could have thrived
where she sits by the cool waters of the coin fountain
tossing golden dreams into the wishing well
dreams of him
dreams of laughter's that once were
dreams of his strength wrapping her
chill frightened fluttering heart
making everything ok
just for one moment to have it all be ok
like a leaf falling from a tree
for one bitter free second as it flys free
as it kisses the summer skies
and lives its own dream
before falling into obscurity
she dreams she is living that moment
with him
in his arms

and he dreams of the moment in her eyes
where she saw him
and they breathed as one
without all these angry tears
without all these useless words
as one soul together
as one heart beating slowly to the
song of moonlight kissing the stars

the rain has come
finally
first in thunderous
clould burst
big fat pregnant drops landing
labouriously on
the dessicated dirt
leaving craterous footprints
as evidence of a
glorious dance

more fall to the cloud's internal beat
a steady rhythmic fall
into the mudpit dancehall
that once was dry dusty street

the rain has lessened
now wavering
between drizzle and mist stragglers late,
to raindance fall ball.