Here, a memory I have found settled in a corner,
covered in layers of dust from years of being untouched--
childhood as I misremembered it--
the happiness before a downfall I never knew happened
until it was over,
but it has been handed back to me
like an undeveloped photograph
and I am filling in the soft brown hues ricocheting in the soft Autumn sunlight.
Everything is soft sunlight haze
and innocence.
There is a streak of pink and the flash
of blonde hair
flowing behind, only a blur,
a shadow, an unfocused photograph where the subject outran the shutter
and the transitioning leaves fall sporadically in the distance
like snowflakes of red and green.
Somewhere between then and now
I have become silver,
hardened flesh, towering propriety,
unrelaxed and harsh, as if I have been made from steel
and an inhuman exactness
that is not natural to the body;
I have forgotten bending, the naturalistic flow of life,
I have lost it somewhere,
and now I am looking for ways to be soft again,
seeking a way to color myself golden.
To read more of Zoe's work, please visit her website.