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Rollerskating and Defeat

4/6/22

By Olivia DodgePublished 2 years ago 1 min read
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April Prompts by @aev.poetry — I skate across the face of the earth / maybe this is where I admit defeat

Remember how I said I wanted to rollerskate? I know it’s silly to chase after this thing in my childhood that never once really brought me joy. I guess I just hoped it would be different now that my legs work again. They tell us the fires will erupt tonight. My shoes are covered in mud again. I know I should pay more mind to the ground beneath my feet but the city is burning and I cannot bear to look away. Perhaps in another life I pull my skates from my bag and I skate across the face of the earth. They are flameproof here. Wheels turning and windows shattering and my legs are giving out again. Flameproof is not mudproof. Maybe this is where I admit defeat. Gliding across oceans with broken limbs and orange in my once blue eyes. We were never meant to survive this. Rollerskating was never in the cards for me. I’m not sure why I ever tried. Metaphors have not burrowed in my gums for some time and I fear the bones in my legs will slip from my throat. It is all about fear isn’t it? Permanent stains and melting beams and I just realized this version of me is not human. She is everything I am not. There’s your answer.

— ODH

nature poetrysad poetrysurreal poetry
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About the Creator

Olivia Dodge

20 | Chicago

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