"Untitled"
by Sean McGaughan

I walked like Mahler through a Ferris wheel of white on green left foot right foot left foot. Rubbing dharma off the inside of my thumb I could still feel the shock of seeing yourself outlined in a crowd like a lightning rod with a stupid hat but breathing was easy right then so I felt ok, plenty of oxygen circling the brain. Melodies came soft and slow like Paul Simon made out of the shrubs they keep outside of office buildings. I love how your eyes close whenever you kiss me and when I’m away from you I love how you miss me. It was a day like a photo album. Left foot on the phone with a caretaker I lost my train of thought again right foot and laughed it off left foot. My stomach was upset as usual but more reserved no one really knew what was happening in all actuality the outline of a tree appears wrapped in a glistening and you smile so that everyone can see. I imagined confessions of the most tragic refrigerator poetry kind and threw cigarette butts at sidewalks and roads. In my head I called her and pressed my cold cheek up against the receiver to see what she would say but daydreams always end up tasting like cotton candy anyway. I made sure my keys were in my pocket. I told someone about the beauty of melancholy but it was only my ears talking beauty can’t make your bed for you in the early afternoon. My friend felt abandoned without being abandoned. In the end the lottery we all won made our cheeks red and we walked like Mahler down a redbrick pathway sandwiched by grass leaving negative images of buildings for the crickets to rub between their legs only three more stairs to go goodnight.