<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPsych Wards and Parentheses\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was no later than 1AM- Gaia\u2019s clock still sat sharp and familiar on my mind-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though growing more obscure as the analog\u2019s hands raced,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The locust\u2019s decibel and the sky\u2019s murky indigo tenderly weighed on my eyelids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing stopped for the 23 pills that mingled with my stomach acid-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Atop a gurney, cradled inside milky walls, the moon will pass over me all the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018The fruit of intergenerational negligence hung low and rotting across plastic seats painted medicinal blue<\/p>\n\n\n\n
embraced still and secure, lacking warmth and essence<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(The closest proximity they\u2019ll get to family nonetheless).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Charcoal shadows pool just below their eyes, render them concave, seep down to hollow their cheeks-<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can\u2019t seem to find the lives we fought to preserve<\/p>\n\n\n\n When fluorescents overhead and TV screens cause more decay than illumination<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n (The bright side?)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence is a virtue that reaps freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An expedited escape from a cage liminal it\u2019s-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where a trail of antiseptic frosts my nostrils<\/p>\n\n\n\n And a 5AM intrusion of needles and gauze rest in the hands of latex and polyester,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inhuman, unconcerned, and artic-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interconnect with the perfect breeding ground for linoleum-induced psychosis,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where murals of hellfire taunt our gaze on shower towels,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Embers dancing across each fiber and thread-<\/p>\n\n\n\n As if they\u2019re begging us to make their appearance known to anyone with a clipboard<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n (A recipe for 3 more days and 10mg of Abilify)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Sun, a Son, a Child\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The sun illuminated distant memories of youth,<\/p>\n\n\n\n It painted them crimson and dandelion,<\/p>\n\n\n\n and filled the air with the scent of the wildflowers<\/p>\n\n\n\n that made their appearance in pockets<\/p>\n\n\n\n among the open emerald field under our feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n It masked what it truly meant to be yours,<\/p>\n\n\n\n the days my fingers brushed against the ones<\/p>\n\n\n\n owned by an unmatched anguish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You said you wished I looked like her,<\/p>\n\n\n\n and then we kissed as bodies should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I held my breath as my fear met your passion-<\/p>\n\n\n\n an association between the two formed<\/p>\n\n\n\n as they mixed in our mouths, caged by lips and cheeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our tongues alchemists spit into adrenaline<\/p>\n\n\n\n as summer gusts tossed our hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The umbrella of trees soothed our skin<\/p>\n\n\n\n from the attacks of South Georgia heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You called us fate, my smile agreed<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet my heretic soul sought a God with more mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The romance of the photographer compensates for<\/p>\n\n\n\n the nuances it couldn\u2019t capture,<\/p>\n\n\n\n like your words escaping,<\/p>\n\n\n\n coarse as leather, strung out like a whip<\/p>\n\n\n\n you cracked to callous me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was grateful and I was na\u00efve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You sanded my thorns and<\/p>\n\n\n\n reduced me to more weed than rose,<\/p>\n\n\n\n and laughed about it under the light of the <\/p>\n\n\n\n television and the moon and on top of my reluctant body<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Anger Iceberg”<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a dusk spent with dew-crested cheeks and serpents for fists-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Binding, constricting, and striking at the air<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was in my room and sobered by the weight of indifference<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a dusk accompanied by a page, a pen, a plate of flies and dried down dinner, and an open window<\/p>\n\n\n\n A dusk so primitive its only kin a womb<\/p>\n\n\n\n The kind of rawness that only lives in primordiality<\/p>\n\n\n\n Somehow, in this moment, failing to be tainted by its own awareness<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a dusk that sauntered up my skin, a tease of a night<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tracing gusts around my ears before dipping in to whisper to me<\/p>\n\n\n\n That anger is a woman, a mother<\/p>\n\n\n\n A necessity, an ointment, and all-consuming burden<\/p>\n\n\n\n An infinite gentleness puppeteered by language,<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we hide the seeds of human oneness she sows,<\/p>\n\n\n\n And refer to our sins as her roots<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like she’s the kiss between knuckles and insulation<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the rod that reeled “bitch” out of his throat<\/p>\n\n\n\n We swallow her like rum- let her labor weather and dull sharp edges<\/p>\n\n\n\n tighten the grip around her neck and let her ambrosia creep down our tongues<\/p>\n\n\n\n As if we’re not the ones going to hell for this<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cPsych Wards and Parentheses\u201d It was no later than 1AM- Gaia\u2019s clock still sat sharp and familiar on my mind- Though growing more obscure as the analog\u2019s hands raced, The locust\u2019s decibel and the sky\u2019s murky indigo tenderly weighed on my eyelids. Nothing stopped for the 23 pills that mingled with my stomach acid- Atop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":814,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/814"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions\/200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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