Shrieks into the Void

This collection of poems was written as a final project for my Rage, Romance, and Resilience During the AIDS Crisis class. They are inspired by both my own experiences and personal interviews from classmates. Closure-19 i tap through time feet brushing the water creating ripples in the blue-like waves, Soles barely touching  Lifted with fog surround me and fill full chest fill up pour through my temples press against gray matter slowly slowly slowly  slower still breathe and keep breathing in the green haze teal-blue malaise of days to come the pond the lily pad Still drifting across branches hanging with moss settling reaching to the ground in dark emerald sheets  eyes filled with calm-y thoughts sit still sit still sit still and wait green-blue-purple-gray— thick molasses fog—run faster faster faster still for nothing stays here for long Midyesterday Walk A walk, you say. Only a walk. Necessary. Exercise get outside only a walk. We gather masks, water bottles, inhalers,  barely worn

[This was originally written as a creative writing assignment for my History of Technology class.] Janus had only seconds to come up with a plan B. The water was growing higher around him, the icy waves threatening to suck all the air from his lungs. He could hear Noemi struggling against the current just behind him, but her ragged breaths grew shallower each second. Using his satchel as a makeshift flotation device, he snatched her wrist and began hauling the two of them back onto the boat. The gondola, however, had other ideas. Its oar slid off the low sides and began to drift away into the murky water.  “ Porco cane! ” Janus cursed, just loud of enough for Noemi to give a sigh of dissatisfaction. Grasping the oar before it could slip away into the murky water, Janus managed to sling his satchel across his shoulder, tuck the oar under the arm that was clasping Noemi’s hand, and try to grab the side of the rapidly departing gondola. Janus, however, only managed to smack the side of th