Poem: A Step Outside
When I heard raindrops
pattering down the roof,
I went outside.
It had been a few days
Since my feet had touched a ground
That was not cold tile, glossy wood, or hair-infested carpet.
Instead, my feet slipped into worn shoes
older than I was,
dead bugs
hanging around the sole of the dirty slippers.
When I stepped into the muggy heat,
I smelled a day
stuffed to the brim with endless to-do lists,
a day
where we could complain of the stifling heat,
gurgling in the pools of our sweat.
We embraced the hideous torture to be together.
The smell was heavy and thick,
And I stood and stood and stood
under the ledge
remembering,
when clouds thunderously clapped for the charged heat of slippery, glowing bodies,
for the sighs that slid out of our mouths and mingled with other rustling breaths,
when we were struck by lightning with metal umbrellas over our heads,
plaid boxers and unzipped zippers out and about
Enormous, rolling waves of trees and vibrant skies
melding together as I stumbled,
drunk on too many giggles.