By Lula Talenfeld ’25
I catch myself shape-shifting with the seasons
A new form of spring that is juxtaposed with a falling
That is forgetting how to care at all –
Weather changes sporadically like how I hear a heartbeat
And I find a tornado where my closet used to be
The fence has come down –
Last night
I sleep with my hand on my chest
Trying to catch myself
Remembering how
Last week I sweat from the sun
More than is comfortable
Sweat stains feel embarrassing
When did the natural settle into shame?
Invite him into her living room
Even force their tongues to call it a home.
This week the wind pokes fun at my tear ducts
Perhaps because I asked it to whisper me away too many times –
This is mother nature’s humbling realized.
My moods intertwined with the magnolias
Buds like they’re cocooning
Tuck myself between the felt foldings of the leaves
Within days the flowers unfurl.
Stopping to look at the sky resembles a baby blanket
Pink and blue pastels crocheted –
I wonder if my mother kept it
If I would even care:
To accidentally imagine her holding it is to feel the water roll down my cheek –
This is mother nature’s humbling realized.
Yesterday I almost fell on the flowers already fallen
Their undertones blended with sidewalks cracked
I forget if I tried to catch myself.
I like to imagine this demise is toward utopia
Blooms flourish and fall in romance
Not merely to be alive.
Can we have intimacy during doomsday?
Blissful ignorance builds the walls of the sanctuary.
Learning to kiss like the world is ending as if it isn’t already over –
Of course the bodies live dying to hold.
