Playground by Meghan Killian

your tethered eyes meet mine halfway between
a tired conversation crowded with monotony.
back and forth we take cracks at the tetherball
teetering amongst shallow truths
hiding each internal struggle once faced.

time doesn’t stop despite deafening silence,
the words finally escape from my mouth all wrong.
cold wind creeks through the cracks
in shattered, scattered hope
bleeding like water from a leaky faucet,
all of the muddled memories shadowed in bias
darkened by misinterpretation and hurt feelings.

temptation is the enemy but I don’t know the truth
deductive reasoning is built off of assumptions
so we derive hollow bitterness from grief
extracting worth from fleeting validation
which never proves to be enough.

we aren’t getting anywhere, merely fooling ourselves
into believing that perception and emotions are
the foundation of Veritas.
but you’re heavier on this seesaw and send me flying
while digging your feet into the ground once again.

Author Bio: Meghan Killian is a Boston based poet, writer, and content marketer. She has a BA in English Literature from Providence College.