It begins with a dream
a distant thought an ache
a mockingbird’s song
no, that’s not right
It activates like a device
appears as easy as mist
rolling over mountaintops
hello bold-faced lie
It starts with yoga mats
eyes clouded by crosswords
two-acrosses twenty-nine-downs
it emerged way before then
It erupts from misunderstandings
from unattainable promises
impossible plans for an imagined future
now, that’s more like it
It solidifies like magma forming crystals
invisible amounts of dishonesties
desires bouncing off each other like mercury
this is getting somewhere
It dies like a pressed flower
beautiful on paper but beyond fragile
existing on the plane of an unsolvable axis
it always begins with a dream
Genevieve Sarnak
Genevieve Sarnak is a writer and librarian based in Western MA. Her poetry has appeared in PHIL LIT Journal, Scapegoat Review, AC | DC, Neon & Smoke, and elsewhere. She's currently hard at work on her first novel. She can be reached on Instagram at @nothing.collapses or via her website https://www.