The New Green – Vandal Poem of the Day

To wake up every morning in the pines in your bedroom and have to
shake off the green nightlights is a blessing

I want to burn down the forest

that’s been growing

all night

in my brain

I left a note in my brain in red Sharpie it says Don’t forget the matches

Embers go flying up to the top branches

The house

gets brighter and

brighter

Then I call down the hallway to my dead brother

Then more lights

•

In my home in my brain

I’m at home

The pine trees are beautiful and made of green needles the pine

trees are beautiful and made of green needles

I went to sleep

and when I woke up

I was covered in

pitch

Nothing really happens to you when you’re dreaming

Everyone alive is alive

everyone dead is

again

Through the new green

they come back

they can’t

come back

but they come back

•

The lights inside the pines

are my pillow

I strike the matches on my teeth

and light the needles

I strike the matches

I keep being

alive

I didn’t know that it would get easier but it does

The rain softly through the last of the branches is your voice

The lights are my pillow

My brother is my mattress

My mother turns off

the trees

and

tucks us in