Stand by Olivia Mokrzycki

(I wouldn't hear you if you called.

It was the loneliest time of day

The time in which the hydro fields soaked up and reflected orange lights from the streets

Not wet, but soon)

Still and silent

Exposed to far more interesting creatures than bees and Devils

Clawing at my ankles, chewing on the bones above my chest

Still and silent

Gentle arms raising what's left of them

Swaying themselves through drafty winds until the creatures fall and dash into the dusk

If you listened there was always something to hear

Soft humming or shrieking

Burning through your skull right to your brain

Eyes rolling all the way back to check on the sounds

Geared to find a woman laughing, dull piano, barely a difference in notes

Barely coloured,  grimy and fleshy sides in the skull, echoing words, extended

Running on as if chasing each other, useless words

"No place no bed no her but time and jabs and stabs a kiss and piss and shameful miss the arms the eyes so red so blind a fear a style in grave denial and ears to hear but left unheard for birth'd be better left undid go charge your mind a shrivelled lie and lie and lie your name is what, what is it, child? You've got a life to chose a name don't buy it"

Losing balance in the field, glowing white eyes, pupils still facing the brain

Blood rushing straight to it as if the body was turned upside down

Swaying, still with the arms, side to side like a floating raft

Always something behind, felt at my back
leaving me soft tracks, dirt marks

But not holding me up, letting me think

Counting pauses between breaths and chills