Salem, MA, //James Marie Staeger

I

Violet fluidity betrays all stoicism.

From afar, the purple reflected across the glassy harbor

looks like stillness.

II

A singular shadow sits in the modern light,

stories above, staring at me, saying

“This is a place that compels you to reach.”

III

The air lifts my one-word question to the lone figure in the empty building

“Where?”

––through vast, alternative forests encapsulating

your heart, past the halls of bone surrounding

your soul––is what I want them to reply;

•

a gentle breeze skates across the violet glass,

a pale gust prowls through the dead-end streets,

faint sounds scatter across vast distances,

and the shadow says nothing.

James Marie Staeger is a Queer writer based in New Jersey, their poems "Checkmate", "Manchester", and "Boyd Street" have been published in The Normal Review. James writes works on identity, Queer romance, and on the vast experimental realms that exist within this world.