Gali

Are you the friend that never gets heard when there's a group conversation? 

Are you the friend that when there's not enough room in the hall or on the sidewalk you go behind everyone? 

I was so undeserving,

And yet you were so persistent.

I pushed, and you pulled.

I cried; you held me. 

My heart was broken, 

you repaired it.

When I needed it most, you were there, 

you are an ocean, 

a transparent abyss of blue 

that could swallow someone whole,  

waves battering against thick grains of sand. 

you are a battlefield, 

I’m four years old and it’s pumpkin season again. 

I’m holding tightly to my best friend’s mittened hand 

and feeling the wind whipping at my face, 

turning the tip of my nose pink, 

Blue doors

Hard, cold white tiles lined with blue ones 

Walls painted a bland white

This is my cage.

tell me I cannot drink the air; 

yet the smoke on the horizon curls like a finger, 

inviting me to taste February in the wind 

and know time is running out