We Ponder: Unsettled Minds

Sonder Feeling

I sit down on a bench and take sips from my London fog latte.

The juxtaposition between hearing chatter from passerby and my silence is overwhelming.

It is peaceful knowing that I do not have to engage.

That I can watch, while being reticent of my emotions.

I think about it every day.

How somehow, we are all interconnected in this world.

All 8 billion of us.

Anywhere I go, I am left with the same thoughts.

People walking, people talking, people breathing.

Like myself, each individual has dreams, a past, and fluttered memories.

Compassionate minds meet kindred spirits.

They, too, could be struggling.

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Bones wrapped in slices of thick-cut bacon.

Porcelain face mirrors obsolete coffee grounds.

Density remains.

Secreted juices flood the lavatory.

I grow with hunger but crave nothing.

Nutrients deplete from my limp body.

I am weak.

Still, I want to be like Iron Man.

250 calories are all that I can have.

Abductors tear from elliptical descents.

Echoes of reflection parallel my distorted mind.

I was only 17.

Labyrinth

My mind protects me from the perils of the outside world.

Inside this box I am trapped but alive.

Shouldn’t that count for something?

Foreign hands wave caution signs to my neurons.

Filthy boxes compel hand scrubs.

It is never enough.

My fingerprints glaze across the light switch.

Secret touches that no one ever seems to notice.

Three. Five. Seven.

It must always be an odd number.

Trouble lies when I don’t oblige.

Unwanted thoughts cloud my brain.

Please make it stop.

Words typed must now be erased.

Eliminate the mistakes. Eliminate the doubts. Eliminate—

Starting over when it doesn’t feel right.

Constantly counting consonants and vowels until I am satisfied.

The keys have never left my bag.

Why is this my third time checking?

Volcanic Deposits

We danced around the pleasantries, jellyfish orbit around.

I was already complete when I met you.

Still, you added value to my life.

Lessons I learned from past lovers; I was made wiser.

Is this just another epoch, or are you here to stay?

Calculated fantasies, I hope to know the real you.

We’re surrounded by xeric forests.

We sit down and watch alluvium meander through braided channels.

You permeate through my robust walls, twisting and turning through interconnected small openings.

Let’s break the surface tension.

You’ve found the epicenter of my retrograded memory.

Seismic waves start to form from the intensity.

Erupted magma leaves basaltic lava with low viscosity.

Preserved in time we create fossil records.

Aftershocks adjust to the displacement’s fissure magnitude.

Zones of seismic gaps remain.

Ethereal Creator

Your presence beholds the universe.

Like a child, I go to you for milk and honey.

Eternal divinity dances with the elements.

Compositions fuse together to form unusual species.

Narratives we tell, but only You hold the truth.

Anthropomorphic, you transcend the brightest of minds.

Ex Nihilo.

Chaos shapes together to make goodness through order.

Knead my heart, make it pure again.

Animals rule the luminaries.

Have domain over life’s creation.

Limited minds and wills chosen to care for Your deepest treasures.

Seeds of doubt planted led to the fall.

Free will given to us, I choose You.

Exquisite One, please forgive us.

Lost Willow

Fragile minds break in the face of adversity.

There was a mirage where I dreamt I could see the unthinkable.

The willow weeps at the sound of Your name.

I walk alone on the moon.

Inconsequential earmarks have receipts end on time.

I vouch for no one.

Rite of passage through the cleansing of bath water.

If you wait patiently, you will find the keys to your good nature.

I will blossom in the dark.

Unstoppable.

I wrestle with the snarling granite gargoyles.

Grotesque figures creep into my dreams.

But I remember that You have always been my North Star.

Seraphim surround me and provide reassurance.

Crucible Dilemmas

Glass bubbles encompass coral reefs.

You were my Chérie Amour.

Your glucose swiftly turned into a foul sour tang.

Fables I believed too soon.

Always misunderstood, you never seemed to get me.

I gave you the cold shoulder as a self-defense.

Every minute you asked if I was angry at you.

Yes, I was angry that you couldn’t love me the way that I deserved.

Now irate at the sound of your voice.

Our love once filled with fairytales, has promptly become an old tune.

You were the wrong piece to my complicated puzzle.

Like starfish, I return to binary fission.