Patrick Meeds

Candle Power

Now I’m beginning to understand.
In your world the shortest distance
between two points is a triangle
and the car you drive only has
a reverse gear. Did you know
you can make music with a violin
bow and a metal saw? With a balloon
and a bicycle pump? You can also
make music using human skulls
but I wouldn’t recommend it. Most
oysters never produce a pearl.
You can’t detect a rose’s heartbeat
but believe me, it’s there.
Forgive me. The throbbing of
the air conditioner always lulls me.
You know what it’s like? It’s like
the time I accidentally swallowed
an ice cube and all I could do was wait
for it to melt before I could breathe again.

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Patrick Meeds lives in Syracuse, NY and studies writing at the Syracuse YMCA’s Downtown Writer’s Center. He has been previously published in Stone Canoe, New Ohio Review, Tupelo Quarterly, the Atticus Review, Door is a Jar, Guernica, The Pinch and Nine Mile Review, among others. His first book, The Invisible Man’s Tailor, is available from Nine Mile Press.