3 Poems by Zooey Ghostly
Zooey Ghostly
we laid together by the lake / we laid alone by the lake
we laid together by the lake / we laid alone by the lake / we took turns gasping through eachother’s hair / you me & the wind / we shared wet palms in a whimper / the light bruised itself against the scene / & discolored the bodies in orbit / we heard gunshots past the treeline / we watched the starlings whip themselves across/
please leave us here a bit longer /
please let us go together / we said to the empty sky.
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we laid together by the lake / we laid alone by the lake / our bodies had laid there all summer.
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we laid together by the lake / we laid alone by the lake / we laid on a woven blanket that we’d found in the trunk of your mother’s car / you told me about the horses of your childhood / i apologized for how sad birthdays made me / we tried to name the trees / as if they were a box of abandoned animals / that one’s called drupelet / that one tumor / that one grovel / that one greif /
& then it was time to name the lake / but we’d used up all the names on the forest /so instead we named it after each other / so that when i said julia / or you said zachary / we’d have to see that we meant the other / & not the swollen body of water beside us.
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we laid together by the lake / we laid alone by the lake / the leaves were the color of an animal’s blood / & the ground was the colors of an animal’s muscle/ & an animal’s fat / & an animal’s bone /
we were both soft enough to penetrate with two fingers / we were both soft enough to be torn apart / by teeth or by wind or by memory /
i trusted you / because my body was no stronger than a stonefruit / & there were so many heavy rocks along the shore.
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we laid together by the lake / we laid alone by the lake / we hid our faces from the canine wind / we’d almost made it around the sun / we’d filled our pockets with berries & kindling /
i forget when the fire had started / or when it had reached the trees that we’d named.
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we laid together by the lake / the sky was empty / we laid alone by the lake / the sky was empty /
the trees hushed the water / & the water hushed our breath /
our bodies were still on the shore /
our bodies were still on the shore.
Love Poem
you’re snoring & the big dumb moon fell over itself & into our bed
Love Poem
let the panting moon press our faces down & drown us in the bathtub night
zooey ghostly is a bathroom sink full of blackberries // tumblr & twitter