Teenage delirium (the dictionary)

B

Blades (noun pl.)

/blād/

[sometimes] speech is sharper than metal | [sometimes] it’s easier, cleaner, to cut with mutters and murmurs | they say: “if only” words could kill. 

Bones (noun pl.)

/bōn/

birch trees bending and breaking in the wind | forests of tangled trunks, cracking and snapping, littering the ground | roots (like fingers); reaching and grasping and clenching | stark and white and fragile.

Bon●sai (noun)

/ˈbänˌsī/

tree I: aged (aging still) | stooped and wrinkled, elderly | earthbound, roots that clench and huddle, shrinking into the dirt, hunkering down against the turn of time | and the twists of life. 

C

Cam●ou●flaged (adjective)

/ˈkaməˌflä(d)ZH/

wearing a face - a mask - | the nature of a human to blend in [d r i f t   a w a y] into the blur | of bodies, shadows buried in the masses | (individuals) gone: hidden. 

Cor●mo●rant (noun)

/kôrmər-ənt/

bird I: feel the tuck of wings: hunching down before taking flight [the walls of my chest still around her] | lifting  up into the open air, taking (my) beating heart with her.

E

E●gret (noun)

/ˈēɡrət/

bird II: hear her coming [fluttering] - feel her landing [ripping skin], lighting on heavy shoulders, weighing down | look up: wings blocking out the sun | heavy feathers: crushing.

I

Im●ag●i●nar●y (adjective)

/iˈmajəˌnerē/

you: dancing in the shadows, flitting in and out of air [thin] | twirling in the sun, glimpsed in periphery | whispering in the wind, a voice without a body / gone. 

L

Lamp●shade (noun)

/ˈlam(p)ˌSHād/

shining light - through paper thin (skin; cloth), muted, holding in the sun | heat searing through, sizzling embers creep along the seams | you can’t keep it in [any longer]. 

N

Night●mare (noun)

/ˈnītˌmer/

monsters [under the bed] holding my hand at night | guiding through the subconscious, labyrinth of any (every) kind | leading out of the dark of the mind, into the dark of an “empty” room. 

S

Se●quoi●a (noun)

/səˈkoiə/

tree II: head in the clouds; daydreamer | redwood giant, reaching skywards, arms branching [grasping] at the birds that fly by | free. 

T

Tat●too (noun)

/taˈto͞o/

paint my body black and blue with ink that s-c-r-a-w-l-s and sPliNterS, fill the space with spidering lines  | stain me with (your) permanent signatures. 

Train tracks (noun pl.)

/trān/ /trak/

[getaway] wheels rolling and thundering | red lights flashing, flagging down cars to watch the blurs race by | chasing, thundering steps and flinging arms strain for rusted handles | r.u.n.a.w.a.y.(s).

Tsu●na●mi (noun)

/tsoo-nä’mē/

[d.r.o.w.n.i.n.g.] water: pooling | seaweed: swirling (drifting), filling, flooding, and floating into houses | empty homes, where life is left on pause.