Page 64 - Contrast2016

CONTRAST - 62

SOPHOMORE BLUES

BY ALEX SEILER

fall comes to campus in flames:
tearing through the trees,
shedding gold and yellow sparks
onto new cement and fading brick,
little fires where they land.
everywhere she walks,
she wades through summer's ashes,
ankle-deep.

the radiator hums on
in November. the pipes clang.
she dreams of demons
inside them, hammering
on the rusting metal, beating their way
toward freedom. she turns another page.
she turns in another paper.
the denizens of the water pipes
perform their dance every night
as she sinks into sleep, working
and waiting their way out into the world.
she does not doubt that they will make it;
she only hopes that she won't be here
when they do.

her roommate's boyfriend
plays jazz. his fingers kiss
the electric's strings,
dancing a slow sad waltz across
the wire. she leans back and listens,
lets the book fall closed beside her,
the dissonant harmonies drawing her gently
into dreams.