By Carolynn Solorio

When your soul is crushed in stone and eroded by the wind, will you finally be free?

When they find what is left behind,
        My evil fossilized in the dirt that haunts the Earth,
        I will laugh.
My molted feathers — thickly coated in the oil between your teeth —
Will shake free and slice your skin





        Open. They will liberate you, and release the darkness
That resides in the depths of you, so you may finally fly with me.
My eyes, that pierce the veil of innocence you put over me
        Will sneak out of my skull. And carve out the trail of salvation
That you have refused to share with them.



Then, we will all fly, and navigate the blue, pulsing veins that line the Earth’s skin, and haunt
        You instead.

Why are you afraid of me? I am you. I am what you created me to be. Don’t you feel the bullet hole in your back — right at the blade — where they shot off your wings? Aren’t your lungs on fire from breathing in the veil, and letting its silk stick to your insides?



We are each other.

And since you already know who you are

It’s time to forget. ■