sublet ghost

today i put on my shoes i went for a walk

to replicate a memory and years passed

the future

tonight

we rearranged furniture everyone is doing the same

thing you said

i fell asleep

in a cardboard box

meant to send soap to loved ones

*

if a door opens and no one is there to walk through it

if a gut instinct occupies the space instead

dream decay

the only thing i did in echo park

 was chip my pink fingernail

 polish and hope

 we wouldn't sour

 after royal jelly

 my face feels like tanghulu

 to feel tender i still

 drink from a leaking glass

 it asks me

 to close my eyes

 and scan my body

 for any strange sensations

 related to the issue

 when everything on

 my body relates

 i roll down

 in circles

 the corporations follow

 my mental health

 a long descent

 a spiral staircase

 i preserve

 herbs in my underwear

 the plant growing out

 the gutter resembles

 a similar effort

 to summon

 maturity by proximity

 i need a mountain range

 to shield me

 or a pile of ribbon

 to escape

 one google search away

 the view outside

 like we're near

 an ocean reminds me of when

 my mouth tastes like yours

Valerie W is a Filipinx American multimedia artist and poet in Portland, OR. She is currently working on her first chapbook.

Louise Evans is a graphic designer and illustrator living in Bristol. She is interested in socio- linguistic history and the physicality of books. She does design for The Grapevine.