Day 150: Cloud Gate

Crisp fall air falls off her hair

Orange halos float, reflect from her glasses

Nowhere to go, we said

She rubs the inside of my palm

Knowing I’m colder than her

Letting the day, the people,

Letting the songs of our lives

Guide us through the Chicago streets

It’s either too late or too early

I can’t tell if it’s busy

She tells a joke and I smile

She likes Katie Perry and Aerosmith

An author named Burgess

Nails trimmed and unpainted

Same short haircut as her mother

We met by coincidence

Leaving the bookstore

The city decides for us to find

A massive reflective, metallic, smooth thing

A bean

A Gate

Sits, watching the world

That watches it

She lets go of my hand to take a picture

Not of us

…

Of the Gate

I’m cold again and wondering

Watching the bean watch me

She could be different

She could choose not to see

She is not her

She is here, after all

The crowd is silenced

The city distant

Let go, let go, let go

Without risk, there is no future

Like water refusing to flow

I wish I was that bean for a day

Just to know all my secrets

She turns to take a picture of me

Adjusts her glasses at the rim

Green eyes find mine

The mole on her cheek

Orange rain boots

And a tattoo of Alice's rabbit on her wrist

Time, flash, go

The Cloud Gate showing all

I smile

Forgetting why I started thinking

I extend my warm hand

As we continue on our journey

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Author's Note #1: What I like most about this time frame of writing something creative in a day (in reality, a few hours) is that it forces me to put the chisel down knowing something is incomplete. I don't like this poem (or story in poem form) as it is now, but I don't dislike it. It would take a lot more refining, replacing, and shuffling to get it to a point in which I would be satisfied. But I have to be satisfied now. This process has helped me immensely in my life by allowing me to strive for the best but accept what happens, instead of being disappointed when my vision didn't come true. It has helped me be kinder to myself. Just for the that, every day is worth the struggle.

Author's Note #2: As always, thank you for reading.