If I want to escape reality,
I’ll find you on the rocks
by CELIA OTTINGER
“If I want to escape reality, I’ll find you on the rocks” my roommate’s
text replies
…and here I lie
in the warmth and the wind, more wind than warmth, slightly
underdressed for the weather the
way i like it.
is it in the way
wayward souls from the west can’t shake their suffering? A pseudo
Buddhist phase, a window seat flight and silent prayer away from
god? Might it
be
like
that
On the concrete, I dress lest my skin forget
the natural forces that force trees to trust fall and find
each other
Who said weather isn’t reliable?
Now whether you find it convenient is another question
“hey, your shoelaces are untied”
a stranger warns and in my head I sigh,
“I know, I always know”
A girl’s got to get her thrills somehow
…back to the rocks,
back to thin shirt and untied laces, shoes now entirely off,
before the lake breeze,
I bow at your cries,
no hiding inside
I am here
with
you.
I can’t always be here
with
you.
but i can splash water on my face and give myself a kiss on the
shoulder before I go to bed I only lose what I don’t take the time
to live.
(escaping reality feels a lot like finding it)
Celia Ottinger is a Maryland/DC native who moved to Chicago last year to pursue her masters in social work at the University of Chicago. She currently resides in Hyde Park and loves to express herself whenever she can! Whether it’s through writing, dancing, painting, or yapping, Celia hopes to continue centering artistic expression as a means of healing and community building in her clinical practice and personal life.