Social Means

   

Autumn Dern

Inspired by “Coming Back for You” by Jamaal May

Baby-faced stones leap and bound atop stretches

of still lakes. Breathing the whispers of snow-dipped peaks

Pine needles and Pasque flowers settle in lonely river banks

until tourists crush their spines for the sake of taking

Pictures and gaining likes. In Tokyo, a girl scrolls past

an abnormally perfect square of Colorado’s dripping

Sunset. Where clean water floods out of faucets unlike

Louisiana, where a boy must bathe in iron. Where bottled

Water is scarce, but necessary for a shower. An airport

that leaks worried women on smart phones and college

Students returning home and the lonelys that

hide in corners without outlets. A girl flies to Portland

Hoping to see her sister’s farm and occupied belly. A boy

in Sydney waits for a whistle that only a musician

Could hear. Feathers dance around breezes that try to

figure out the brass inner workings of the human

Brain. A boy drapes his lanky calves over a lonely pier

to hear a tear calling from Pennsylvania. Wondering and

Tinkering with what if and maybe. He licks

my thumb as the girl in Tokyo scrolls past us.