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They got out of the harbor just in time, but they couldn’t get out of their minds
Teachers pinning certificates of participation on the gravestones
When your head hurts, your head falls asleep
May all beings be free of suffering
including me, including me
* * *
My skin smells like the sun
after I’ve been in the sun
That rainbow spelled seven days, the one that was floating
I love you for my life, for the day and night
I love you for my life
* * *
I’m going to wear a cough today
The cough will be printed on my shirt
I’m going to feel some old gravity today
I’m going to tell on myself
Maybe we need a new lamp since this lamp’s ripples are standing up strange
Maybe those prisms are our wishes that we made when we came back from our moonwalk
Maybe we can catch water with a square & then the water can cool down and become fish
Maybe we can carry the water in our ears as we walk
* * *
How about when I was nine I married a panda?
How about my first word was mine?
How about we give these stones a bath in hot soil?
How about I turn into an electromagnet?
How about you
How about you
How about you listen to me as proof of me?
* * *
I had a dream last night that my body spoke to me!
But all it said was “drink more water”
Black holes where the milk valley dies
The floor is stuck — it needs to let the rainbow in
Before the thinking is the knowing
The thinking is added to the knowing
* * *
Waiting is the way the cake and candles arrive
Time is an illusion, but only an adult writes that down
I want a heart cake for my birthday & I want to eat it in the basement with my friends so we can watch the cat meow
With this world, we are enchanted
The spell of the world pouring down
* * *
What does the night taste like?
It tastes like candy hearts
Hello, I’m Princess Twilight:
the princess of doctor’s appointments
Today at recess, the wind sang a boring song,
a really boring song
Only kids who have my name can see what I see
* * *
That marching band was so busy
This grape is waiting for its turn in my mouth
That ‘M’ has so many points
This chicken belongs to a sports team
That light can summon clouds inside of it
This music sounds like good napping music
That clock is moving through birds
This is a song, not a choice
* * *
One time I was eating my lunch. (silence)
And?
And what?
Is that the whole story?
Yes … That is the only story I have.
*
What's that face?
It's a mad face of no scissors.
*
There's a show about the sun and the moon.
Oh really? What's that show called?
It's called Space.
*
I love you.
Me neither.
*
What's that?
That's a place of worship.
Oh. Is that where we go to make our wish?
*
What are you writing about, the kid asks.
You. I’m writing about you, I say.
Lauren Haldeman is the author of Instead of Dying (awarded the 2017 Colorado Prize for Poetry, Center for Literary Publishing, by Susan Howe), Calenday (Rescue Press, 2014) and the chapbook The Eccentricity is Zero (Digraph Press, 2014). A comic book artist and poet, she has been a recipient of the Sustainable Arts Foundation Award and fellowships from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. You can find her online at http://laurenhaldeman.com
This originally appeared on October 15, 2017