Karah Kemmerly
if I’m lawless, blame it on the spring

your teeth are almost perfectly straight
lilacs keep blooming at your feet
& you are backlit by volcano flames
my hair has been dyed multiple shades of red
I am slowly absorbing my third iced coffee & experiencing déjà vu
inside my legs seawater pools up to my knees
I am prone & sympathetic to hauntings
when you see a ghost, you know how to trap it
you pluck it out of the air with your thumb & forefinger
secure it a duffel bag you keep specifically for this purpose
I am impressed but still a little angry
so you rest your head on my stomach to calm me
you’re wearing a cape made of mint green corduroy 
& your hair moves like kelp underwater
when you hum I feel it in my headbones
I am not quite skeletal but my skin isn’t comfortable either
I’m paranoid from constantly watching myself
& I have arms like a science lab model: ready to detach on command
you know all about transfiguration spells
in childhood photographs, you could be someone else if it weren’t for the ears
my body betrays me too / refuses to dive for fear of getting its hair wet
you have a plan to help me written on the side of a Kleenex box
& it contains a surprising number of bullet points
if you put me in front of a mirror, I couldn’t ever sit still
but with your forehead so close to my sternum, I’m trying
this volcano makes my upper lip dewy with sweat
the sun beams down at us too
it doesn’t understand heat: how it magnifies
more than once I open my mouth & say nothing
you wink but it doesn’t seem directed at me
I’m wearing all black & not a single piece is velvet
we’re going to have to climb later & I don’t remember how to belay
you give me a handful of cherries from a neighbor’s tree
bite down on an apple while starlings circle us like a chimney
I still smell like a mandarin orange
I can’t scrub the rind from my fingernails
when you raise your eyebrows, I think about cocoons
sometimes I still notice the insects before the people
there are so many moths & I’ve started learning their names