"The knives are what hold him together. It is the notes that are slowly killing him." -Zachary Schomburg, from The Man Suit

Accidents

I felt like a child

and so I started

playing hopscotch

down the road

it began to rain

so I yelled

let it flood

right through

to my bones

and continued playing

but this rain was strange

it was liquid

but all the water

that landed

on me stayed where

it landed and began

weighing me down

eventually there was

a tower of rainwater

looming above me

threatening to crash

down on all the people

on this road

all staring at me

but I feel like a child

and so I play

hopscotch

because I just

don’t know better

or that’s what they’re

all telling me

in a strange chant

over and over

ah

dult

ah

dult

ah

dult

maybe if I keep playing

the water will crash down

like a huge tidal wave

and soak them

through to their bones

"You try to work for people You let the people down." -Dorothea Lasky, from Black Life

Catharsis

I went out to the field

where I once saw

hundreds of elephants

galloping around like

wild horses

to try to join them

once I got close enough

I noticed that these weren’t

regular sized elephants

they were the size

of stuffed toy elephants

I managed to touch one

as it galloped by and it felt

like a stuffed toy elephant

I began to feel like a child

again so I grabbed a few

of them and began squeezing them

and throwing them in the air

and laughing hysterically

when I finally became aware

of my surroundings again

I noticed all the little elephants

had stopped dead in the field

some on their sides and backs

I walked around and picked up

a few but they remained lifeless

a cool breeze came over the field

and it seemed like something

had its breath taken away

still determined to join them

I fell to the ground on my side

and tried to stop breathing

been here ever since