Six Syllable Novel

Two naked, one of us raped.

Hobo Romance

I had been told that the 30th street station was basically across the street. In actuality, it was two blocks forward and three blocks left. While crossing a road, the sky decided I hadn’t been caught in the rain in a while. It opened its cloud and spewed down a river. The river must’ve had a dam somewhere up there though, because the rain only lasted two minutes. Finally, I pushed open the doors to the station. I followed the signs. I was 30 feet from the booth that would get me some tickets. “Boy you sure are a good lookin’ girl.” A man whose yellowed eye-whites circled earnest blue eyes had begun popping his feet down fast enough to keep up with my pace. He had come out of nowhere. “Are you single?” he asked of me. Immediately a swarm of metallic spiders crawled between my shoulder blades and nestled into the skin at the nape of my neck. My fingers, now turned to macaw feathers, instinctually slipped the cheap turquoise ring that I had bought for myself from my right hand to my left. “Yea, I’m actually married.” It was the spiders who whispered this voice through to the real world. Only belatedly did I add, “sorry.” He grinned and he bore it. His face was just about as wrinkled as the waves in his faded blonde hair. A lone metallic spider scurried into my nose. He smelt of grime, or at least the spider conversed with my eyes and concluded that the filth I could see under his fingernails would probably insinuate such a scent. I couldn’t stop smiling at this man. He seemed so nice, so genuine, so lonely, and yet so very chipper. I could see myself with this man. We could hang out in train stations, talking about what we could see. We could both never shower, and we could share secret smiling glances about the things that no one else would ever notice, because, really, we would be the only happy couple skulking around the train station. His brown jacket looked worn and comfortable. I know that he once was a young man, possibly handsome, probably happy. I awkwardly looked away; another spider had crawled into my socket and told me not to make eye contact. As the man’s feet issued quieter pops (distance does that to sound), he turned back and called out, “He’s a lucky one! You’re a real catch, and you’re gorgeous, too!” The metallic spiders melted away, as I realized that I was once again completely safe in being alone.

An unfinished painting and a photo from last summer:

Job Watering Plants

Life seeps in and then swells!
Life seeps in and then swells.
These plants are breathing.
Dirt, earth, brown must
musk, making me melt.
The mulch moves my emotions
back to finger-painting days.
The tomatoes are heady.
I want to mix their smell with
olives and snack on summers
spent in sixth grade.
The thyme is fresh.
Sequins of nature vibrate
and giggle; they know
I want to dance, too.
These fill my nose
but all I can think is,
dear customers,
stop stepping on the damn hose.

Ferris Wheel

A ballet of colors spins and glides in perfect circle.
Eyebrows lift and the spine tingles.
I reach my little gondola, the blue one
and sit next to a girl I don’t know.

Our weight causes the gondola to wriggle and writhe
and all of a sudden, everything shudders.
Goosebumps traipse across my arms
as I reach for something to hold onto.
We are airborne.

The ground pulls away from us as quick as
the candy-maker stretches and pulls his taffy.
It’s almost too much until we approach the top;
we are suspended.

The rush of fighting gravity
has brought us together
and we can smile as we realize
neither of us is holding our breath anymore.

All along the wheel I see who each of us are.
Our ride wouldn’t be the same
without hearing each other’s laughs,
without calling out to one another,
without waving at each other.

We are all spinning, until we aren’t.
Sunshine and cut grass spill into view
as we quickly reach ground again.

Parents approach the gate
snapping photos and asking how the ride was.
It’s inexplicable though because
the world you saw from the top
is your own, and no one else will see it.

Why In Everyone's Eyes?

germans wear a badge
allowing you to Judge; we don’t wear a
badge allowing others to Judge.
Is that because
we switched the name from Indian
to native american?

Irreversible

Lay down, just so. This is half up to you.
Experienced hands mark up my virtue
with “‘s rioghal mo dhream”
a beautiful tribute to my family team.

Good thing they’ll never know
or else my parents would be my foe.
And not even that, they’ve told me,
I would be someone they don’t know.

This feels like a blood curdling scream ripping the night;
This sounds like a million jackhammers picking a fight.
A needle, a pulsating needle, shreds my skin,
and my legs, like jumping beans, twitch from the sin.

Something pushes my brain into my chest;
thoughts morph into palpitations of sweat.
Put your fingers on my neck just to test
that my pulse won’t end up in cardiac debt.

Please hurry up and inject the ink,
Before I go and puke in the sink.