Laura Ingrid
Home
It provides protection from an uncertain world;
a security blanket made of smooth
stucco and cozy objects to rest tired bodies on.
A place to seek shelter from drizzle or heat, unkind faces
or loud noises, any unpleasant entity existing beyond
the confines of its warm and inviting element.
I’ve lived here for a while, never considering the element
of change. It would be difficult to leave this world
I’ve constructed. It might even prove to be beyond
my capabilities. So instead, I choose to smooth
out wrinkles that exist, as though the rooms are faces
that need work. Sometimes it’s good to get worked on.
The more time I spend here, watching tv and laying on
the couch, the more I realize that the element
of outside space is something that I miss. Strange faces
and random repartee, the socializing that the world
needs in order to thrive. This experience hasn’t been smooth
nor has it been easy. I often think of what lies beyond.
If I let my mind wander, it drifts far beyond
its comfortable boundary. All that is light fades, even on
a sunny day. I’m left with darkness and I’ll have to smooth
talk my way out of despair. It’s days like these when an element
like rain brings hope. I feel it cleanse the air, my home, my world
as it dampens flowers and windows and faces.
It’s not that I don’t like this place, I just want to see faces
other than my own. I want to know what exists beyond
these walls I’ve hidden behind for so long. There’s an entire world
out there and I want to be a part of it. Time keeps moving on
and I’m stuck in this box. Life has become boring, there is no element
of surprise anymore. I want to be where things are rough, not smooth.
I want to leave this place. These walls, they are no longer smooth
columns of comfort. They are barricades separating me from faces
I know and ones I’ve yet to meet. I am completely out of my element
here. There’s nothing for me to do but bitch about being bored beyond
belief. Time drags on and on and on
while I wait for the okay to join the new world.
I pray everything goes smooth and there’s good beyond
this, that it’s filled with faces who wish to carry on
as we had before, and eradicate the element that tried to ruin the world.
—Submitted on 03/24/2020
Laura Ingrid is a freelance writer and MFA candidate living in Los Angeles.
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