Folie à Deux
the moon / center stage,
beam spearing / into a blue-velvet audience
of discarded cough medicine /
shriveled orange peels /
half a dozen tulips
wrapped / in cellophane,
petals cradling so much / anticipation,
and so much / disappointment,
that they already resemble
rainwater /
yesterday’s shadow /
a hand half-curled
in the throes / of sleep,
dreaming towards the surface
of a sun-spilled lake / and instead—
a bird’s screech / skimming the horizon /
a smudged reflection / knived in two /
the sun / metastasizing overhead
as a body,
shimmering / and naked,
takes center stage,
eyes clouded
with an incurable
myopia
Caroline Chaffiotte is a rising junior at Wheaton College, MA, studying Film and English. Much of her work centers on themes of family, mental health, addiction, sexuality, and loneliness, with inspiration taken from both literary and visual sources. Some of her favorite artists and writers are E.M Forster, Alain Resnais, Irvine Welsh, and Toni Morrison.. Throughout her (albeit short) career, she has had several pieces recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition, and her most recent film, Clementine Skin was accepted into the Woods Hole Film Festival. In her free time, she enjoys working as the Art Editor of Babe Lincoln, learning how to surf (alternatively: trying not to drown), and watching movies. Paris is Burning is her favorite, and even though she’s seen it seven times she still cries at the same part. If you've seen it, you know the scene.
Sarah M. Zhou is a Chinese-American undergraduate at Columbia University. Her work appears in Blue Marble Review, COUNTERCLOCK Journal, Bombus Press, and elsewhere, and has been recognized by the Poetry Society of the United Kingdom, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and the National Council of Teachers of English. A lover of coming-of-age stories, she also enjoys winter and the color lavender. Catch her on Instagram @sarahmzhou.