Rae

i hope that you rest easy as the world

tumbles down into fire

for you did everything you could

& we didn't do enough. it was never

your fate to carry the failures of

common sense & education, but now

It all began with a dare. It was a hot summer day. I practically dragged myself from the school bus back to my house, convinced I’d die of heatstroke.

At dusk, the city climbs into trees. Streetlights fold into branches; apartments blink like nesting owls. Commuters dangle from vines in tailored suits, sipping moonlight through trembling leaves. You knock on my bark-body, and I let you in.

When I was younger I used to ask my mom what her favorite color was and she said she didn’t have one.

This confused me,

How could one go through life without a favorite color?

There's a point you can't look for that means you wait; homework tucked away, lips chapped yet somehow unbleeding, socks on in bed the way you never have before.