Selkie She shows up at my door one day, out of the blue. It's been raining something awful, enough to drown her in her own clothes, and her hair hangs like seaweed on beach, tangled and still framing her face in a way that makes my breath hitch in my throat. She's a selkie who managed to escape, who found her misplaced skin under the floorboards behind the sofa, tossed there in some random way, and somehow for some reason, she's back on the doorstep of my apartment. Selkies aren't meant to come back. They're meant to be in the ocean, living their lives, doing something much more important than showing up at my door, looking at me with round, darSelkie by ~beautyisinthedark
streetlights She wanted to run awaystreetlights by ~beautyisinthedark
to the wilderness of another country,
and all I could do was ramble
about the benefits of urban air,
of the yellow streetlights, and
the forests of the city blocks
that coddle you into
a false sense of anonymity,
dissipating.
spoiled we are spoiled.spoiled by ~beautyisinthedark
we no longer have to
feel the crunch of leaves
underneath our calloused feet.
we are poltergeists,
sleeping in our usernames,
easily excitable.
we are deprived.
left I have begun to clawleft by ~beautyisinthedark
the walls near my bed.
I am wondering.
I am wandering.
I'm at the border
of a faraway country, standing
on the crubmling bank of a river.
I am wading, nearly
treading water.
I began to feel
the vague outlines of the world
underneath my tortured hands.
I am wandering.
I am wondering.
I am a wood wife, pulling
at desert plants, looking
for that cross-section of my ribs
that is worn smooth by
the sigh of the wind.
I'm almost finished, just... 3 left. 
I like it, it's just a lot of work so far. I have about a week left of this semester and then I will drop dead of exhaustion.
Optimism 
!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!! 
Sta.sh
...
