1968
Melanie Noel
It is 100 years from now.
There’s too much pink and burgundy and dusk threads the well-lit leaves.
It smells like tuberose.
There is an owl.
Her name is Louise. She calls her monkey Aubrey.
There’s a game of chess going on in the park.
Yesterday it rained, but not very hard.
It’s 68 degrees.
It’s Spring. It’s May 18th.
This place needs music.
The moon is new.
This place is on earth. It’s in England.
Children aren’t allowed.
*
It smells like wool and dust.
It smells like dust and rain.
It smells like sun on chalk.
It smells like roots and straw.
*
There are no bright colors though the letters on the sign are pale yellow and
it smells like wool and dust.
It is very quiet though we’re in the city.
Yesterday a flock of starlings stormed the tree.
Tomorrow there will be a bomb.
I think it’s Spring. Early Spring.
The moon is new.
This place is on earth.
Children don’t come here, except one, whose name is Josef.
*
Yesterday it rained
Yesterday a flock of starlings
Yesterday an accident
Yesterday the mouse
Yesterday it rained
Yesterday the rats
Yesterday two strangers
*
Tomorrow is the earthquake.
*
The doors are primary colors.
It smells like sun on chalk.
There is a girl racing her shadow.
Yesterday everyone in the village disappeared.
It is over 100 degrees.
The moon no longer comes.
She outruns her shadow each day until she’s hungry. She’s 8 years old.
*
This place is on earth. It’s near LaGuardia.
This place is on earth. It’s in England.
This place is on earth.
This place is on earth but has a replica.
This place is not on earth, but in its atmosphere.
This place is not on earth.
*
I am a statue.
There are snow-covered things even though it’s spring.
I’m nauseated by the perfume and candy.
There are no sounds.
Monkey doll and Mimi sit in the formal garden.
A mouse walks across the patio and no one hears.
A robin looks for worms and doesn’t find one.
It’s not a time of year for sweaters.
I think it’s March.
The moon has been full for months.
This place is not on earth, but in its atmosphere.
Children find it strange.
*
I am alone here though a farmer sells leeks nearby.
*
It sounds like coins made of paper.
It sounds like paper made of stone.
The roots are reaching but no one sees.
There is an animal I don’t know.
The moon is almost full.
There is only that animal whose name I don’t know.
*
Bach’s sonatas on headphones then
an owl then it
is very quiet even though we’re in the city then
a driver’s high-pitched whistle then no
sounds then it sounds like coins
made of paper and
then pigeons
*
I am standing on the platform, but everything is still.
Canary yellow kelly green.
Metal and pleather.
It smells like gasoline.
I hear pigeons in the rafters.
The ghost of the train’s last conductor wanders west.
Yesterday the rats were exterminated.
Tomorrow their angels grease the rails.
It is freezing.
This place needs to pitch a winter picnic in the empty car.
This place is on earth. It’s near LaGuardia.
*
I am outside
I am outside the trees
I’m outside. My pituitary gland is diving back.
It is 100 years ago.
I am inside.
I’m outside.
I am outside, across the street.
I am a statue.
I am underneath.
I am standing on the platform, but everything is still.
I am outside.
I am inside.
I am inside.
~~~~~
Melanie Noel is the author of The Monarchs (Stockport Flats, 2013). Her poems have also appeared in Weekday, LVNG, La Norda Especialo and THE ARCADIA PROJECT. She lives in Seattle, WA.