Soul Mates

i’m driving home in silence again
because the radio interferes
with my mind’s music

(we forget, sometimes,
that darkness doesn’t actually
protect us
because the sun always comes up)

the air coming through the window
is heavy and i have the illusion
that the stars in the sky are speaking to me

they tell me to believe in soul mates

and it hurts
it hurts like my heart is chained
to a cinder block in the ocean,
drowning
it’s blue and deep
and it hurts

and why do i feel so alive?

By Alley Franke