Myself Today

I had this moment today

A microscopic flash of future myself

This mirrored twin was silver-bright

But her edges

Milling inside moving shadows

Maybe a ghost

Or a muted, damaged thing

And I thought, 

No.

This is myself

Clear-eyed and able

My mind veered from the monster

Back to this moment

by Juliet

Again

Again

This morning I squeezed the juice from green apples

Sat down with a stale rice cake and decided,

(Again)

To start over

Someone else was chosen for the job

An old acquaintance seems untrustworthy

And while I'm glad I didn't fall too far into her confidence,

I wish I'd been safe to take more than a dip

At 3:20pm, I will ask twenty-five hipsters to break open books

Examine their lives for specks of molding injustices

Ugly, careworn examples of a world

Less, so much less than what they were promised

The temperature has broken above zero for the first time in days

I should leave the dust of my house

Rethink the past

Plan the future

(Again)

-Juliet C. Bond

Zombie

Sleep-crusted, swollen eyes fill crisp paper bags
An apple with browning spots
Her hot, horrid breath spills across the counter
Half-cooked quesadilla, flakes of cheese spilling from fluffy white discs
A limp hand grops for a knife, makes its cut.
This lunch aches for something sweet, devoid of dessert
In preparation for evening gluttony.
She scrawls names in red ink,
Shoves pitiful organic cheese puffs into the maw,
And crushes closed their halloween lunches.

by Juliet

Happy Halloween everyone!