"'Revelations'" by Nicole Callihan

“Revelations”

If I do not “wish” to “die,” I must become “different.”

But I am much the “same.”

I appreciate “fruit,” yearn for “satisfaction.”

I once stood in a “quad” at a “college” and talked to a young “man” who had been holding
a giant yellow “leaf” in front of his “face.”

“I” might as well have been anybody. And “I” was.

There’s only so “much” that can be “done” in a “body.”

Especially “down” south. And “up” north.

Once in “China,” I drank a whole bunch of “Red Wall” then got thrown into a “rickshaw.”

At “best,” I am “inconsistent.”

At “worst,” a total “fake.”

I write “odes” to “apples.” I “abhor” the “feet” of some men but carry “band-aids” in my “wallet.”

To my aunt’s “disappointment,” I “raised” above my “rising.”

To my mother’s “delight,” my “skin” looks “okay.”

Once, after I “knew” not to litter, I threw several beer “cans” out the “window.”

Often, I place “birds” in the “verse” to simulate “movement.”

To be “alive” is one “thing;” to “not” is “another.”

Photo Credit: Staff