The Girl Next Door is a Quiet Riot

The Girl Next Door is a Quiet Riot

They say she is the quintessential Girl Next Door

That girl with the handknit socks,

But you know that girl is a Quiet Riot

That girl

Isn‘t just kind and wholesome

It’s not just that she is open

and accepting

She winks,

And you reel,

But it’s not because you are used to being ignored, no . . .

It’s cuz you know somehow

In a glance

She has taken you all in

With astounding precision

In the privacy of her room,

Behind the window you sit under at night

Taking in the scent of rose,

Building your tolerance to thorns,

She pulls the sheer curtains closed

And lets you watch her

Take all your meticulous colors out of her unassuming patchwork knapsack

And throw them up against the walls

She takes the time

To curate a gallery

Considering you

Your colors blending with sunlight and dewy air

As morning stirs and wakes

You are ancient memory

Behind her eyes

How many lifetimes have you encountered each other in

Before that wink and reel?

Before the handknit socks

She is soooo . . . familiar

But she’s not just the Girl Next Door

Otherwise, she would never pause in her stride

She’s been your neighbor a thousand lifetimes before

So, you won’t be having to explain yourself

The Girl Next Door

She’s a good girl, yeah, sure,

Wholesome

Intentional

Carefully timing her arrival and stitches

But she’s gonna tear down the walls of the world someday

By being seen by such a Quiet Riot,

Before the real explosion,

By being knit into her socks,

And worn with delight,

You are primed

To endure the illuminating flash.

The Girl Next Door is a veritable Holly Hobby, sure

The guys balk,

But you tell ‘em just because she knits don’t mean she don’t see.

She pokes the needle into spun wool doused with

Blues and Reds, Black, White and Brown,

She pokes needles into the rainbows themselves

Toying with constructs,

Releasing more and more complex colors.

And every loop tells a story

Defiantly appreciating

Her handknit knee socks don’t match

She only wears them often enough to start a little tremor

She is a Quiet Riot

With all the unassuming force of a Girl Next Door

Tethered to the revolution churning inside

That’s a girl who won’t be telling you how cool you are

Just because she is nice

It’s cuz you are . . .

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice!

You look good splattered on her walls

Woven into her socks

You got something

That she can nourish the garden with

She’s gonna graft you to her curving vine of bright blue clematis

Make it stronger,

Brighter green

And take you climbing out of the small angle

Into the big picture

The other brothers

The other sisters

The others

Who claim they claim their outcasting

Ask you what you see in her

She’s a poser

Just another codependent

Too tame

Too quiet

Too simple

But you’ve seen this girl somewhere

One of these times around

Quiet Riot

Holding your hand

And amplifying

Everything

She makes atoms dance

Under the light of just one eye that stays open

When she winks

You reel

And wind

The Outcast and The Girl Flying Under the Radar

Next Door

Riot together in this world

That glint in that girl’s eye is alchemic dynamite.

A gentle explosion

All your colors and all your worlds

Go on

Go open doors

Find your Terrabithia

Write a song

Go on now

And let colors compliment each other,

Without having to dissipate

Those socks,

Your two hands bound,

The walls of her room next door

With all those new colors shining

Riot and recall something ancient

Build a way to live

Find the otherworldly beings who flew down and dropped her in the house next door for you.

Offer them thanks

Let them dance under your perception

Riot

Color and light

Ask the Universe what’s good, what’s possible,

Again and again

Riot

Take all the nonsense by a storm

And start the world over