Amber

during the night i was cold

i wanted my friend

where was my friend?

i walked the Houston concrete cracks at 6 am

the cold front had set in, stalactites forming

like weaponry under my eyes

my friend wakes up late,

she always wakes up late

texting her at 5 am what am I thinking what am I thinking

i turned left i turned right where was she where was she i think i got out of bed and stumbled on shore

she decided to take the wrong road

it was her choice

i took the wayside boulders,

searching for her in the water

without getting wet

but that's not possible, that's not possible i fell

in bed yes i got out of bed

in the haze of that half-time-show searching for her, looking for her

but i was awake

i SAID i was awake

i don't care if you don't believe me

i don't care about anything

poetry, hunger, ecstacy

i just want my friend

i took a left turn and somehow

found her

found her lying on her pillow

she was so skinny like at any second she'd just

diminish

i screamed my lungs gave way my knees

sought for her arms dangling from the side of her broken bed

she couldn't breathe my friend she was too weak

i didn't know, this entire time, she was in her room, all alone

i thought she was roaring, lifting, running but my friend, she woke up too late

i didn't have time to gather her limbs she was too frail i just hugged her or

what was left of her she cracked like

glass

the winds took all her pieces

i had nothing left to hug so i stood screaming

no, that didn't happen

that didn't happen I'm still on shore she must be here somewhere

my friend,

where is my friend?

look inside the dunes between the grains of sand hello?

hello?

Amber?

where did you go?