Kaleidoscope Magazine

i wanted to write a poem
about the poetry
unfolding
above my head the
upstairs neighbor tapped something
fine to the tune of tiny ecstasies
blooming inside my head
instead i folded up curled up furled up
beneath my sheets, legs sticky sweet sweating shivering
the words
shriveled up like little wrinkles
upside my head
too soon too soon the words melted
into something
worth leaving left
unsaid.

---

Atarah Israel is a junior at Northwestern University studying Journalism, Creative Writing, and Black Studies. She is an alumna of the MHS Poetry Club and Crier. She is currently reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, among other books.