When Fall passes by
It brushes some trees on top
Some the bottom
Some the side.
Wherever a leaf has been touched
It quickly spreads.
The torch of Fall
Kindles all.
They go graceful, as nature wills
They go with fire, one last glory
Immolating the world.
There is beauty in destruction
And the trees glow with it.
Filtering sunfire
Into their own shade
Coloring the sidewalks
Rose
Lemon
Baby green
Port.
With a farewell kiss
So light
Too soft for all senses
But sight.
My friend wants to see me.
I’m sad, she says. Someone has died.
I’m here for you, I say.
Of course I’m not there.
I’m 150 miles away.
You can come by, I say.
She drives all the way here.
I consider making her brownies
But I’m too tired even for box mix
Having had a headache all day.
She comes in
Brings me chocolate.
I give her hugs
I give her a clean bed
I give her little else.
I feel useless.
We don’t have much time to talk
She has to get up early.
I wish I could do more
Even when she feels like this
She has made all the effort
She has brought me gifts
She
has blessed
me
On her sad day.
Maybe it’s nice to spoil someone else
Maybe it helps.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Sometimes I forget
How generous she is.
How I am often the selfish one
When she is around.
Here’s an old, old poem from my journals. I was probably twenty-one.
Ten minutes, twelve
A slim segment of
Boundless possibilities
Life-changing structure
Structureless life
Miracles and sanity and reason and hope
Whirl in twelve minutes
Six minutes
So much in six minutes
If you keep halving it
You’ll keep having it
The end will never come
If you focus
Try hard enough
Escape the impermeability
The wretched maze
Of time
Time doesn’t tick anymore
It squeezes in silence
And bloats our fears
And miles yawn before us
And thirty-odd years
And when the end happens
We’ll look back and see
Just nothing, black nothing
And eternity
I long for worlds I have never seen.
I am weak with nostalgia for people I’ve never met.
I grieve, broken from the loss of an imaginary friend.
I am giddy at the prospect of pretending to meet these nonexistent loved ones again.
A show every Friday night at seven.
New chapter release on the first of the month.
The game comes out in time for Christmas.
I am fulfilled, thrilled, excited
I laugh, fight, cry, fall in love, win, lose,
Live
Able to forget
For a brief span of time
That this adventure too must end
And I will be faced
With the dead air
The closed book
The black screen
And unforgiving reality.
We affect each other
push and pull on each other’s emotions
if we drown we drag people down with us
if we fly others draft in our wake.
vent your frustrations into somebody’s ear
watch their smile disappear
or
laugh until they can’t help laughing too
love until they are loving you
It gets bigger.
Sometimes you are part of something beyond yourself
sometimes you are angry for no reason
and the people on the street match your mood
sometimes you overhear conversations
or see a trend on social media
which inexplicably echo your private feelings.
Is it the moon?
Herd instinct?
Illusion?
When I didn’t have feelings
I watched it happen
distantly curious.
Now that I’ve found my heart
I am swayed with the populace
flowing where they flow.
Ardently curious
and still no answer.
Sarah D. Silvey 