By Jolee Sullivan
All we knew about ourselves was that we didn’t want to be them.
So we drew the curtains, and smoothed our sheets and made a list
Of all the things that they are.
And each day we slept on our project, making plans with our hands
On the bible we wrote; sunny plans to see the dawn, to be different,
To be what they are not.
Outside and above us, the leaves did their work,
Redressing and progressing through their
Vibrant cycle.
If we’d looked, we might’ve remarked that they are prettier now, that
That ingrained change was where they became beautiful,
But we didn’t dare move our hands or eyes.
Finally,
We parted the blinds and found ourselves
Staring right at them in the clouded glass,
And past them
The sun was the same,
And so were we.
Jolee Sullivan lives in Stony Brook, New York and is a recent graduate of Hofstra University where she studied creative writing, literature, and psychology. These poems are excerpts from her Honours Thesis in poetry, and she has written various works of creative non-fiction.
