Edict

you took a trip in your mind,
broke free from all the chains
that bound you for a lifetime,
but somewhere in the middle
the reality of chaos took you
by surprise. everything and
nothing was real. life became
something you grasped as if
it was ending. When you
finally called me, i was the
last to know. i was here
with yarn and hook, cats
piled on my legs like liquid
warmth. part of me felt a
little broken, my own reality
coming to whisper in my ear.
for over an hour, you spoke
of patterns and vessels made
for the universe, how we are
projections of the cosmos
living out some edict we don’t
understand and maybe never
will. i let my mind drift into this
longer world, let my own fear
and inhibitions sink into the
couch. i had been building an
atlas of the universe we shared
without giving you a chance
to lay down the asphalt of new
byways, without thinking you’d
want to forge new trails with me.
the weight of it pinned me to the
earth and we said good night.
i thought of all my own broken
maps, this invisible world
painted across my living room,
and wondered where our roads
would finally bring us together.

Aleathia Drehmer 2021