place

look

up

bulbous flowers the size of radial tires reaching down from the ceiling trying to touch the tiptop of my head.

i can feel their breath on my neck and scalp.
hot and wet.
calming.

like the caress of your cheek by the one lover

who will always command your heart.

they explode towards my face, all at once mobbing me,

like a hundred paparazzi trying to capture the attention of a celebrity,

bellowing "over here! over here!".

my gaze plummets to the floor.

snakes. sinuous. vine-like.

swimming in the taupe pool of plush imported carpet.

snakes are making their way up the leg of my chair,

now sinking into the drink.

once buoyant, a bastion of solidity, the baroque reproduction now laughs

with it's overly affected French accent.

i feel a tap on my shoulder. the flowers again.

my attention stolen from my plight here on the taupe seas, i...

r a p t u r e

exhale. exhale. exhale.

stop.

i am possessed.

cleaving at the edges of their frame,

the diaphanous blossoms want me to know something.

what? what must i know?

i want to know.

the rise and fall of the thousands of plants suspended

from the ceiling bares down on me.

choked by the weight of the asthmatic mass above me,

i stake my gaze to the ground.

yes.