I.
Mid-morning and I’m still
Trying to chew through the sun
And sound of today
If the sun isn’t a fireball
Maybe it is a fire poker
Stabbing my poor eyes out from
93,000,000 miles away
II.
Lunchtime just means
The sun has repositioned its javelin
A bit
But I eat my lunch
And it eats
Me
And I don’t like the idea of being
Swallowed up
By a big ball of fire
III
Still shards of sunlight
Seep in
Midafternoon as I drink
My tea
More slowly than I do in the winter
The flowers in the vase are dry
By design
Or neglect
Still brilliant in their frozen forms
Unfed, unwatered,
Unnoticed by the sun
You’d think it would be a violence
To live each day under
Burning rays
But God knows what I give
Them is not shelter, nor peace
Swallowed up in the darkness of
This place
IV.
And we arrive
In the time between
Afternoon and evening
The sun is growing angry, erratic
Flailing in its desperation
To hurt
Some windows scream bright
Other angles bring blessed peace,
Darkness
Approaches
But I’m still wearing sunglasses
Indoors
Samir Knego (he/him) works in a library and loves heavy metal. He has published poems, paintings, photographs, and even some things that don’t start with “p” and was LEVEL’s Spring 2021 Local Artist-In-Residence. He lives in North Carolina with a bright green wheelchair and a little black dog. Twitter: @SamirKnego