SHE IN THE FUTURE, ME IN THE PAST

New Year’s Eve

Nothing ever closes
and things hardly ever open no beginning
no end
—did you catch that?

When I went to your room to light that candle
to make it comfortable for you, I failed
to see this truth—
I couldn’t tap into that age-old wisdom l so claim to possess as laundry piles up,
sheets are sweat through, and new illnesses emerge

I love you
and your face
now come here
and use it

Something to Look Forward To

When you finally arrive,
it’s all so silly

light doesn’t pour down
the hallway as it did
when you were young
it shines on her face
and only her face
just for you

She in the Future, Me in the Past

“It’s only a fortnight,” she said, trying, as she always did, to keep time in perspective or, rather, break through to some new, uncharted perspective even when we had a lifetime of those ahead of us. But I’d never heard someone use that word—“fortnight”—in life. Only in old books or movies, whispered through fog on train platforms. She kept it up, in attempt after attempt, trying to shake me with the knowledge to which she felt she’d just been granted access from another dimension. It was all becoming circular to her. I think she secretly enjoyed these labyrinths created in front of her by the mind we didn’t share. I could feel it every time she crossed the heart we did share with her collected hidden truths—treasures I was glad, though never envious, she had. Still, I couldn’t be shaken. I was too caught up in that word. In the anachronism.

G—

Why would we deserve
or even be able
to touch someone
without a face

and such a short name
a sliver of a representation

Jake Triola is a writer, musician, and filmmaker from Erie, Pennsylvania currently living in Glasgow, Scotland. He studied cinema, photography, and comparative literature at Ithaca College, where he made the award-winning thesis film, Drawdown. He has since released nine albums and five EPs under the name “Kill Symbols.” His poetry can be found or is forthcoming in Hidden Peak Press, Stone of Madness Press, Synchronized Chaos, miniMAG, Spinozablue, and more.