urban jungle, acoustic jaws
Deviation Actions
Literature Text
i.
earthworm hearts tangling
up through the underpasses
like strangling ivies,
because we know
what it is to survive.
(it is not kind; it is
a stopwatch record
in who can climb the
highest, before the trains
rumble on their tracks
and push our rubble down.)
ii.
i saw an upside-down man
on the vein-ridden walls
(and god, it was breathing
breathing)
and tears pricked my eyes
like sewing needles in shirts
two sizes too baggy, and the lights
were flickering – our souls, flickering-
i don’t understand how you saw.
“i can’t decide if this is the
most hopeful or depressing
thing i’ve seen” i mustered
to the arch in your brows
and the gap in your soul.
i took a picture
to remember.
iii.
my circus body
contorted, unknowingly
under the double take
of a man squeezing by,
shirt rubbing, smell wafting;
he had elevator eyes.
iv.
your fingers soothed
the strings of your guitar
but every chord was a
blanket to my spine.
just let me go, just let me go;
bless us all, bless us all,
and the tears were icepicks
in your throat.
i leapt onto your neck
and hugged you
how living held my stomach:
acidic limbs and an addiction
so deep-rooted, you had
to choke it up.
v.
"it's like an urban
jungle," i gleefully
harmonized with car engines.
in the echoes,
you laid your hand
upon my clavicle,
disapproval smiling thinly
on your face,
"its jaws will swallow whole."
So this was how I spent my Friday. In the tunnels with a guitar, an ukulele, and a soul that feels familiar to my own (so sometimes, I'm too open).
I just wanted to document this, so I wouldn't forget. I'll put it with my picture of the man walking on the ceiling. and gosh, I can't believe I cried. I still can't decide whether he is hopeful or saddening to my heart.
raining while I read this. I will say that I found
the third section a little out of place, because it
is so short, but at the same time it's my favorite part.
Such wonderful description. Anyway, beautiful piece.