The Rapture, or Bagel Sandwiches
by DARLA HIMELES
Lisa’s shoulders & jaw narrated the squirrel’s
zigzag,
his wide-toed scramble up-pause-up-down-up,
because pink June dizzies words useless in the
throat.
The breeze wafted falcon & brown sugar & bagel
sandwiches,
which parted silence into paper & aluminum
crinkles
& mmmms, also pink, even in our dark dyke
uniforms,
even with stone steps still cool through distressed
denim
as mid-morning sun glistened us, the
grave-littered hillside
spilled beneath us like a kingdom, & maybe
we were
Oscar Wilde & Walt Whitman then, our silver
rings stacked,
dark hair streaming, rugged decadence of steel &
vapor,
black sandals slapping back down on the
mausoleum steps
as the clouds called us up to reign, still chewing.
Darla Himeles (they/them) is a Philadelphia-based poet and an assistant teaching professor at Widener University. They are the author of the chapbook Flesh Enough and the full-length poetry collection Cleave, both published by Get Fresh Books. A 2026-2027 Boyds Mills Storyteller Fellow, Darla is committed to writing and spaces that embrace mental health as health and that destigmatize mental illness and neurodiversity. Instagram and YouTube: @darlahimelespoetry // darlahimelespoetry.com.