October 26, 2016
Nicole Scott
X
I.
the golden gate bridge is branded
with x's on posts
where people
committed suicide
each x each time each blood each body part
I could touch the water
but I won't
because I'm scared
night shift
doesn't
bother me
it's the night's shift
think of night scared to die scared to x
scared to become the shag rug you overlook
how that feels vicious on toeprints
I was told to think
about the vicious things
dark nights in a humid room
lit by flushed light
I am hardly flushed
I can't I need to be raining
there there
here is what it feels like
to have something empty.
II.
I was told to think
about beautiful things
when saltwater clogs
the corner of the eye
it's more dry
than wet
I dream of Niagara Falls
and get jealous
it's easy
for her to know how to exert
the right amount of pressure
the perfect amount of lushness
to make eyes x
her waves
hit the rocks
the sharp ones
so much so
the crowd has to sit
straight down
III.
the crisp gust of summer
reminds me how
good
it feels
to be healthy and yours
never healthy
and mine
in winter I was neither
I was told to cup the snow
in my hands and build
imaginary
I built a snowcastle
I built a kingdom
it was about happiness
pleasure enjoyment x à la mode.
I was told to touch x
relax relax relax damn it
like crushed velvet
on cracked feet
"X" was written from the perspective of panic, "x" representing the unspoken thing. This speaker battles with a fear of intimacy — physical, mental, emotional. As the poem progresses, a state of insecurity transmutes into a state of passionate acceptance and triumph
Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published weekly by Glass Poetry Press.
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