CastInViolet

I let my shoes lead

Me to where I met the sky

It took me away

And my hair became the rain

And my laugh became birdsong

Cast your hand out

Like a line from a ship, pull me in

I want to fall

together with you into the trenches

Warm lights scattered across 

ancient stone and concrete

another night out has come to an end

and 20KMH 

never felt so fast

The lights mix into the cool night air

arms tense, hands shaking

over cobblestone streets

I move past

the night falls away

the stars smear

and swirl

and spiral

in the inky sky above

it is 4 am and we are alive

and we are flying

A series of random desisions 

Throwing each one at the wall 

to see what sticks

You’re aware your youth is running out

but it still feels like everything will always be the same

So you catch yourself

Hacking you bangs off in your bathroom mirror

days before uni graduation 

as some small form of personal rebellion

You still live with your parents and see 

kindergarten classmates in your daily routine

So maybe nothing will ever change

But your parents are moving out of your childhood home

An end to an era you think

and the change you’ve been waiting for finally approaching

but deep down you know you will never truly be gone

This version of yourself

This feeling will always be here in this place

And maybe one day you’ll come back to visit her

Contained in these walls

this suburb

she’ll be here

waiting for you

Once the furniture is gone you think it’ll feel different

But everything just feels paused

Waiting for you to come back to resume

the last I time went to open the door I thought to see if it would feel any different

But it just felt like I came home

I wondered if it would always feel that way

When she was fifteen and stupid and didn’t know what life was

But she didn’t want to know

And so now she is still none the wiser

Just Shy of 21 and endless bile in her throat

She forgets to drink water and her head spins too soon

I swear she will fall down soon

But not like before

Because she is no longer stupid in the same way

but she still is stupid

she’s just blonde now

And she doesn’t know how to be happy

The sound of worn shoes

On wet pavement.

In the distance, the piazza echoes.

Bokeh storefronts blurring

In dark puddles.

I let my breath come to me in short puffs,

The night air on my face.

Break

From the group to an alley,

An enclave of soft rain, and a police station

We step. Around the corner,

A soft pittering sound,

And two green eyes peer at us,

A raised tail like a question mark.

And breaths,

Now, laughs

As our new friend purrs into our ankles.

And the floor beneath us morphs into something more than pavement:

A starry reflection of the sky