Death dreams under the cerulean sky, poolside

sun never sets on skin skin

settles for the sun

 

sunscreen caught in the cracks

carvings etched in blood

 

the pool, the palms, the widespread sky

sometimes paradise withholds

 

hatches spare limbs and stumps

lost my mind when I took a dip

 

a lifetime of ideations tow

a body unrecognizable

 

knives and nooses cloud

a mark of madness

 

on this exquisite perfection without

weights no way to explore the deep

 

new neurosis, symptoms who counts

three palms are erect and waving

 

I wave back to ensure my limbs are still

attached by coarse black stitches

 

I turn on my stomach, eye-level

the water a deep velvet maroon

 

my name is called by no one

I scribble to tether me to time

 

pains denouement; a cloud arrives

past selves carry present self to old

 

wounds, re open them and gouge

when death seems the only way out

 

of the gate I walk home

under the quintessential California sky

We group from noon til’ three

morsels & molehills bitter

black coffee but there were lids

to cover each other’s

 

boiling & slow to simmer

we watched each other weep

into years pulled

 

from pockets, offered behind earlobes

Pain! We shouted, unfair deity

whiplash truth. A succumbing

 

crawled the room & we

permitted intermittent attention

or held nothing

 

back and peeled raw

intensive, sensitive we punctured

holes in wounds, made banner

 

our hells. No & everyone wanted

more eulogies or elegies

it was a scarred scene

 

complicated by need & want

hearts were emptied, one by

one more than the few. Fear!

 

we stamped. Help fell around

like leaves arthritic

hands fail to grasp

 

we group from noon til’ three

a graduation is expected

neither grand nor soon.

Haley Guariglia grew up in the creeks of Columbia, MO and currently resides in Kansas City, MO with her boyfriend and 18 year old cat Fedora. Her interests include interpretive dance, bugs, costume creation and reading aloud. Her favorite poet of 2016 is Kate Marvin. She can be found online on her blog at http://www.itwillbeallwrite-itwillbeallright.com/. Selected by David Ishaya Osu.

image copyright Jody Joldersma.