The clocks oozed

Ennui. The birds yawned and

Hummed to themselves but did not

Sing. Spiders spun audibly.

Every train, fender to fender,

Nudged another along the

Track. The pangs of hunger

Numbed and thirst was satisfied

By a thought.

Seconds became disinclined to

Hurtle, allowing us to rehearse our every

Move and feeling fully before we could

Hurt, or make a spur-of-the-moment decision

We would always wish we had ignored.

Trees in forests’ leaves floated

Upwards and down straws we sucked

In reverse, so that our grumbling stomachs

Purred, our toes roundly curled.

In the heart of the ferocious sun eternity gently

Baked and uninspired cicadas

Disclosed their various locations

As their listless legs lost their verve.

As their listless legs lost their verve,

Cheetahs raced fairly,

And bees enunciated intelligibly

To every single living thing on the still and spinning Earth.

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When Time Slowed Down published in Foliate Oak Literary Journal, September 2011