a sympathetic dream

By Claire Wang, 26'

asked to leave again, this time I only take

myself. this is my inheritance, the only thing

I left when I gave everything to a city

and got nothing back except five dollars a sympathetic

landlord gave me when he found me crying on the penthouse roof.

“why you crying, miss?” his voice was grating, but his eyes chafed

off the side of the wall like there were ghosts within the lining.

I studied him then and realized I could not quite answer.

from here, I had once dreamt I could have smothered the city

with one hand, taken as many wishes as I asked, but I didn’t.

from here, all my worries seemed so small I could have

joined them on the concrete ground, but the landlord had

smiled and waved me closer to him. by then, I had stopped

crying, but the silence skimmed the night like a twilight angel.

“calmed down, miss?” he asked, skin soft like city smog,

eyes bright like the light they couldn’t extinguish.

when I didn’t answer, he reached into his back pocket

and sighed. “feel better, then,” he said,

handing me five dollars I’ve kept in my back

pocket since.