#artsprints

[particlesofmatter]

Friends of the Library

Accidentally stole a book abandoned on a bench. Inspected and collected for safekeeping. No one returned to look. Took a peek at the receipt tucked between its pages. One dollar. No big loss. My small gain.

By the bicycle rack, in a white dress, a meek thief.

[particlesofmatter]

Commute

At the stop- light today, a driver's side door opened. A man emerged, stood alone in the left turn lane. Stretched. Took a breath. Climbed back inside, drove off in time.

My heart beating behind him: butWhy butWhy butWhy?

[particlesofmatter]

What If

Mellow, melancholic; "meh." Sinister listlessness surfaces: slithers, hisses. It's a cyclical sickness, centered on his wishes, everything he feels he misses.

[particlesofmatter]

Seminar Style

How many more hours can I spend in an oblong box pretend- ing involvement in talks as my eyelids    drift       down to my cheeks? How many weeks have been wasted writing piss no better than this? The countdown is on as I stifle a yawn.

[particlesofmatter]

Stapled Scrotum

"Gross." "That isn't art." "It's not beautiful." [I don't {want to} understand. I can't keep anything to myself.] Shh... ...ut up.

[particlesofmatter]

Dadasleep

Spun from the just-closed door into dim lamplight, eyes adjust, settle on a form: my dad, asleep on the couch? Adidas sweats atop a pile of laundry.

[particlesofmatter]

Province of Artists

For the zillionth time, my class discusses creativity, each posited prompt polarizing. Stale. Three feet jiggle behind crossed ankles, mine jiggling at the end of my crossed leg-- the most movement indoors. Outside, nothing is cross. The trees wave, say see you tomorrow.

[particlesofmatter]

Heather

Who invented the splotch-pattern of tile? Three shades of smeared greys, checkerboarded slightly because contrast is unsightly? In thirty years, will these pepper-sprinkled desktops scream "the aughts"? Avocado fridges, salmon sinks colored an era, seem abhorrent now. Are neutrals meant to stave away specificity?

Conservative does not equal forever relevant.