Adopt a Highway
Old world sadness meets modern shame
on a melancholy walk along a dirty shore,
where the beachfront properties
are indistinguishable from public restrooms.
As we step around fly-strewn masses of rotting seaweed
and stare at the sun as it sinks behind the town’s famous rock,
we fear that the seasons may have given up—
but there is joy in forgetting the things
we promised ourselves we’d always remember:
that the beautiful always have someone to cheat on,
and anything more than a shell of a man is enough.
But we take no pleasure in guilt
and we have no guilty pleasures.
— Alice Glass
My Father Lies on the Ocean Ground
On Saturday someone strikes a hammer
shatters the world in front of me
I drag my father from his bed to the floor
his torso in my hands
the pressure of death
delicate and hard
like touching cold air in the morning
When my father dies I learn beauty often follows sadness
What’s left when the sun falls down?
He tells me
he has reached the bottom of the ocean
where creatures communicate in the dark
The brain does something wild
I hold his imaginary hand
I feel freedom knowing nothing
will ever hurt this way again
—Sophia Torres-Ulrich
Swimming Pools
Passing by a house with a sign that says
I’m beautiful inside
Is the closest I’ve been to fame
—Sophia Torres-Ulrich