When I leave you
I’m happy, ecstatic even
To vanish from the pebbles
I dream are mountains,
And when I do reach those mountains
Flying like Icarus to their tops,
Where I can see an entire new world
I realize I can’t see the place I’ve left.
I spend my days foraging for gems
Among diamonds shining like glass.
I spend my nights among city lights
That blaze like second suns
In comparison to the stars I’ve known.
Sometimes I search for a bed
That happens to be my own.
Soon, all too soon, the magic becomes mundane,
The hyperborean becomes humdrum.
The street dancers with three-feet legs
Become hobnobs on wooden pegs,
And the acrobats become serpents.
Where I had thought myself a green lion eating the sun
I realized I was only eating lies, and vomiting nightlife.
How easy it is to fall in love
With something you can’t comprehend.
So I return home, to the open arms of the familiar
Where I’m met with a me I know, remember, like.
A me that, sometimes, even surprises me –
Because it’s a me that will do it all again,
If only to be that boy again
Wishing on a distant satellite.
~ Chris McKinney
Chris McKinney graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in literature. He works as an IT specialist. Go figure. To the Stars Through Difficulties, the Mind’s Eye 2010, and Coal City Review are just a few of the publications to house his works. When he is not writing he is painting.
Guest Editor James Benger is husband and writer. His work has been featured in Coal City Review, Comma,Splice, Hoarding Words, Kansas City Voices, Kiosk, Periphery, Runaway Pony, Thorny Locust and To the Stars Through Difficulties. His ebooks, Flight 776 and Jack of Diamonds are available from most digital retailers. He lives in the Kansas City area with his wife.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 