Poetry Corner: It's OK by Emile Westergaard

let me tell you something

you don’t know

where the heart goes to hide

when winds start to blow

from a broken flower box on a cracked window sill

look out at the street below

umbrellas open heads bent down

cracks in the sidewalk

cracks in life open wide rainfall becomes a river flowing through city streets

jump out the window ride the tide out to the end of the city to where the ocean meets the land

to where gravel turns to sand

keep riding out to the edge of the horizon where land is lost every way you turn water rises and falls

float on your back in the middle of the sea

sun overhead burns a hole in your chest

clouds float

salt on your tongueImagine what you are doing where you have gone

what they are saying now that you have made your exit

fish nibble on your feet

you've become a tasty dish

for millions of fish

hear her voice calling you hear her voice telling you it's ok

she wants to hold your hand

to listen to your favorite band

bites get bigger

blood colored water spreads around your head

hear her voice in the wind

close your eyes

drift into eternity

a man of the ages

a boy incomplete

a father and child

a farmer a sailora speck on the water

not even a speck anymore

not even the airnot even the water

not even the smoke rising not even here

now

here

a breath

breathing a body that was

all emotions travel with you

the world no longer

no longer

no longer

feelings travel across space and time

carry you to the other side

fear love emotion creation

she taps your shoulder

turn and see her smile

without a face

just her smile

and voice

calling you to join her

telling you it’s ok

wake upl

ook at her

Emile Westergaard is a writer and musician living in Lefferts Garden Brooklyn.