i. a reckless wheel plus an adrenaline rush
ends up back in a quiet suburb of san francisco.
speed drags and we are lost in a field of green envy
here, the leaves are sentient and each blade of grass
carries more stories than a knife. one deep breath
puts us five years, ten years back and we envelop
in a childlike fantasy, the oxygen rich with wonder.

ii. holding a fiery Marlboro between her eyes
i can see a flicker burning through as
she turns her head towards me. a laugh
leaves her lips in a bitter moment.
our eyes meet and the cynicism turns to
irony: there is nothing quite like the solidarity
of misanthropes upon realizing their
joint self-awareness. she looks at the
stars, an existential angst turned shallow,
and we gaze vaguely upward, lungs filled with ash.

iii. a Pacific sunset wash of orange and
blue, pink flowers dotting the horizon where
the sky makes love to the sea. at some point,
high school will be the distant past, and lovers
long gone with the waves. a solemn climb from
one end of the earth to the other, the moon shies
from illuminating the way his arm falls over my
shoulder, only one moment in a lifetime of many.
i feel his chest collapse with every breath, the life
in every movement of his beating heart, the saltwater
spray leaving his self and entering mine as he slowly
breathes out.