everywhere i go

14

when we were kids i suppose we were clean as water is clear. we heard static on the walkie talkies and we thought we were going to die. the world was full of quiet enemies. there wasn't a stranger who didn't wish us ill. every ditch led far away, every forest, farther. in china, children ate rice and made metaphors with their rice bowls. shi-shi's eyebrows were especially kind; kindness could not be stolen, even when her clothes went missing. no matter what, she had her eyebrows and the people loved her for it. clean as rain. i thought i could control the wind, if only i tried hard enough. i thought i could ingest light. i thought the whirlpools in the pool came from my  mind. we thought we knew how things went.