[Poetry | Issue 10]

Anthony alegrete

reverse Photosynthesis

I Lay down on a dirt road
of golden goodbyes, of fleeting blue,
a welcoming to stillness.
My lungs steal the wind
and its energy distilling the motion
in them until life is as flat
as an exhale. I stretch my back
and feel a texture of soft and hard
not unlike my own.

Lifelines on lifelines.

Have you ever noticed that the things
below us have a different shade of green?
Their green is brighter than ours.
I wonder if the closer we get to the sun
we lose our vibrancy. Or maybe,
the closer things start to get to us,
they begin to lose theirs.

 __________

About the author

Anthony Alegrete (he/him) is a Japanese American poet and writer writing from Orange County, California. He is enrolled in Chapman University’s MFA in Creative Writing program. His work has previously been published in 805 lit+art and The Santa Clara Review. You can find him on Instagram: @alegrete_writes