Branches Book

BRANCHES

Khamil Riley

RESPONSES

5 STAGES

My grief is a mess of tangled lines. One day it takes careful steps measuring just how far until serenity; the next it doesn’t know where it’s headed. On those days, I statue until my mind can find its way home. I stand center stage preparing myself to catch the end of the line. But preparing never works. The line will always take me to a place I have never really known. Grief isn’t set up like rain. When the sky gets dark and fills with gloom, we know to expect a shower. Grief just knocks me off my feet time and time again before I even know what’s happening.

This is the start of my trouble storms.

First response.

LIKE HUMMINGBIRDS

They say I have to face the facts and live down in those truth filled streets. But I’m particularly fond of painting the sky the colors of Before so when it all comes crumbling down, there’s still something left for me to hold on to.

Besides, it’s not the truth that I’m afraid of but rather what it would mean to unlock the gates of that dreamlike Dungeon I’ve worked so hard to build.

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