“expectation”
an experience so overwhelming / unexpected / like the drop in you stomach on a roller coaster / like the seeds in a jalapeño /this is what it’s like
scitter through the maze / adrenaline pumping, despite no visable threat / weave between the walls like a frightened rabbit /scream forwards, find the way out
imagine waking up / and the world is not quite right / like a blockbuster movie, a hypothetical apocalypse / but only for you
every smile is genuine, yet stilted / your name doesn’t sound right in their mouths / the street lights beam in the wrong frequency
there is no real danger / but how terrifying a place to be / normalcy vanished from beneath you / no recognition outside of your own mind that something is wrong
every conversation is a slippery obstacle course / turns of phrase that don’t make sense / jokes that don’t land, questions rhetorical answered proposed not for quite that answer
it would be comical if it weren’t so mortifying
what’s happening? where is the world that should be? the axis has been tilted, the months shifted slightly to the left
“explain it,” they say, “what is so strange?”
but how could i answer? “the light bends around your face wrong,” i say, “you talk so strange. it’s like everyone has read a rulebook on how to function here except me.”
was there a meeting i missed? is this all some orchestrated joke? an alien the size of a chihuahua, introduced as human. i am shaking and yipping and people look at me like this is strange.
the stars keep spinning. the traffic keeps flowing.