Stream of Things

Lily pads in the pond,

with green slime gunk

There are no lilies to be seen

but I can’t see the root, either.

My dried leaf fan is fraying and the

seams, worn thin,

break like nooses don’t.

It’s getting hot again,

the muggy weather and crepe paper patterns,

canals run dry with bathtub scum

and mosquitoes hovering like a

million helicopters over this land,

placing it under siege.

Hot, like those soft drink

commercials on TV ­ all sweat and

adrenaline and sex and soft drinks everywhere but

all I want are smooth white sheets for sweat and

adrenaline and sex and soft drinks everywhere.

© Lisa Xing