Circa 2017
time in my throat,
melting like the backwash of july
you swallow ships on the harbor
with your midday meal,
and the horizon bleeds into july,
in my throat
time on the shoulder,
a hissing paperweight
I scrape my knuckles on your door
a fifth time, but you are swimming
in the backwash of july,
holding crystal prisms to the sun
time between my lips,
drinking seconds like sweet wine
skulls crack open on the curb;
I dodge my own footsteps on
the sidewalk curling, curling
from the life caught in the prisms
time on the heart,
a thorny omniscient eye
kiss the cracks splitting the sidewalks
and watch the footsteps curling,
your own footsteps sauntering away
and leaving you to time
Noreen Ocampo (she/her) is a Filipina American writer double-majoring in English and Film Studies at Emory University. She is also currently a book reviewer for COUNTERCLOCK, a very amateur singer-songwriter, and an Animal Crossing enthusiast. In the future, Noreen aims to fulfill a role in the intersection between storytelling and education.
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