The street is illuminated in that shade of orange
that makes everything liminal
and we move in an opposite direction as the runners.
It seemed funny back then—
like fish veering away from its school
and maybe that’s what we are.

As we sink our feet in the slightly muddy field
and we sit without care of our light-colored jeans,
the fireflies light the dimmest corners.
We ooh and ahh like children
and maybe that’s what we are.

Boy and girl with no faces, no names.
I know you by a monosyllable
still I come, still,
like strangers made bolder by the circumstance
and maybe that’s all we are.

are you and I,
just strangers in the night?
trying with all our might
searching for the light,
that once shined so bright?

Lost one welcomed home
Strangers at one point
Recognizing minds
And words spoken prior
Beats unheard for years
Distance silenced
A vibe not skipping
Synchronized
Familiar eyes gaze
She smiles
I melt

-AJT

I walk through the village
The sun shines, the wind blows
a little through my hair

The shutters are closed
with chinks thin as needles
with long narrow eyes
      
My shadow doesn't fall inside
anywhere, there are none
in the dim rooms
      
where the light drearily
obscures what is going on
and what the consequences are

of everyone's comings and goings
The peeping people press me
as compelling devils

out of their eyes
out of the chinks in their lives
The sun upon me is insufferable

I want the stranger in my bed
to know the stranger in my head
the stranger in my heart is strange
i'm a stranger to my soul