Im Not As Unobservant As I Seem

I’m not as unobservant as I seem

Virginia Woolf, from “The Waves”

hypothetical high of a sober seventeen year old

Your brain is rotating in your skull like

the Bill Nye theme song yanking your eyes

whirring like hummingbird wings but your

body isn’t moving you know

it isn’t but you still need to...

lie down...

just in case...

your tongue is heavy

it weighs your head down

to the ground it’s on the ground 

you are on the ground might be

on the ground the ground is

melting or that could be your saliva

or maybe your saliva is doing the melting

glasses are crooked glasses are

cracking glasses are gone lost

your glasses found your glasses

don’t need your glasses 

these aren’t your glasses 

where did you get these

cloudy contacts eyes won’t

focus face feels bare...

on your side on your 

back lungs expanding

exhale slooooooooow

whirring easing palms facedown

cool. 

You are on the ground. 

The Letters of Emily Dickinson

From “Dream Girl” collection of poems by Clementine von Radics