Coco

like shifting shadows moving across walls and space

I constantly reflect everything and everyone

daydreamers like to envision a new world

one where every cog in the machine does its job

we get tired of being the mirror

I always dreamed that my life would be like it is in books. 

Little did I know that would later come true. 

It’s not quite what I imagined, though. 

All along the ticking surface

All the sand along the edge

All deep down in long dry throats:

Fingers press.

Hands Press.

All from loose and baggy skin

Round half-lucid teary minds

Being a Vermonter is spending six months of the year wearing a jacket.

Being a Vermonter is running outside in nothing but leggings and a sweater, thinking it’s springtime when it hits 47 degrees.

Sitting in uncomfortable silence,

We wait for our problem to be solved.

Changing my habits, I hope and hope.

We have been given so much,

And we have taken so greedily.

Caring is beyond so many, it seems.

"You want your rights?"

"Come and get it," said the snake.

It was wrapped around a tree

in the confines of his tail,

a paper labeled "YOUR RIGHTS."

I stared up at the snake,