Fear is like that (Day 1308)

Fear is like that sometimes  

expectant   ready 

to set the world on fire   but 

more often   it is like waking

from a deep sleep   shivering

yet unwilling to go 

in seach of another blanket 

© 2020 by Hannah Six

What she imagined (Day 1305)

Once she’d opened it, she knew,

there would be no going back.

So she let it wilt like a wildflower 

in her hand, and took another sip,

gazing at a world stained blue 

and green by delicate bottles, carefully 

arranged along the windowsills. 

She looked at them with loathing.

What she’d imagined: Freedom. 

No connections to anchor her to history,

except a lingering sense of beforeness

rippling and reflecting off the water. 

Most days, she ventured north or south 

along the shore, the sand a blank page 

embossed with a single set of footprints. 

From far off in the distance, 

a ringing, insistent, intrusive as 

a late-night motorist seeking directions.

At last, the curtain was about to rise 

on the well-rehearsed performance 

in which they would burst into flames 

— a long distance crash and burn —

and days would pass before 

there was news of any survivors.

© 2020 by Hannah Six