The Plaza After Rain
by Jessie Pounds, Oak Ridge High School

I want to hold your hand
and watch the stark
outlines of trees rush by
though our steps fall slowly
boots breaking the
incandescent puddles
then sliding slowly forward
trailing the water in swooshes
slowly behind me
and you
the streets like canals
Knoxville like Venice
the wet flavors of the east
and Europe
pastels pervading our senses
breaking into our minds
slowly
one neuron at a time
filling us with pink cloud
and a rainy wonder
that life can feel
so tangibly intangible
the realest surrealism
we have ever encountered

I want to hold your hand
pale wrist with its
complexities of bone
I am not alone in this world
the buildings rise up for me
singing odes to love
odes to our moment
odes to the peace that is crawling
out from my heart
whispering softly to my muscles
and ligaments
as it journeys even to my fingertips
risen up like angels,
I know the pink tinged
sky scrapers look down
on us in the shiny streets
They talk amongst themselves
"Did you see those two
walking on water?"