That childhood deception rewrote synapses.

The time that

I erased your name

and rewrote it more neatly

but spelled it wrong

inverting

second syllable.

Your mom was surprised

that you’d make

that kind of mistake.

City Lights

Tonight I am spent. Emerging from underground I struggle to shake free from my day. And try to speak real words after hours of perfunctory call and response.

I walk blocks to buy high heels. Passing lit up storefronts and holiday-styled windows. I ascend an escalator and am floating above a Starbucks interior.

I make phone calls for moral support and then try on the first pair I see. They fit well, but I spend minutes examining my ankles in the mirror. Trying to look at them from front, side, back, front again. They seem to be growing in front of me.

Makes My Heart Stop

Something about this image does. There’s movement in it. My breath gets held. I can’t imagine making drawings like this- it’s so beautiful. Inspiring.

By Charlie Harper via Carson Ellis