In the dream prism of sleep she had the most beautiful face I have ever seen...

....and I was seated next to her at the back of a Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall--
located (from what a dream compass could navigate while bathed in the nocturnal atlas of sleep) in Bloomington, Illinois. She was lanky, but not anemic in her semblance--her hair was a shoulder length of inky tresses stylishly pulled back and tucked into a fashionably knob behind the back of her head and alluring, as if her stowed dreams and heart would spill out from the wild ponds of her eyelids if one were to simply tug and reel on the back of her hair.

We sat in the back of the Kingdom Hall, our attention seemed focus on the inscrutable mystery behind what the preacher was blathering about. We seemed more
content with searching for a vision of God than we did in hearing what
the masses quite simply felt compelled to comment about his veiled presence.

And in the six feet that separated us, we felt like one being.

The pews were reclined on were like a sofa- couch and we sat on the back of what
I have learned is the Kingdom Hall.

Her skin was a sprinkled metaphysical montage of every shade of flesh known to man. It was smooth
burnished copper, an ashen frost forehead in winter,
a delicate cinnamon flavored
mocha. Mix the hue and tint of mankind’s 200,000 evolutionary
Dance since we were crowned homo sapiens in a blender
and the color of her countenance and cadence of her
cheekbones shall surely be announced
with every blink of her eyes.

I would sit next to her, in the same reclining sofa
shaped pew, in the church of the kingdom hall
feeling the invisible gossamers of her pulse
horizontally throb across from where I sat

At night I would leave the Kingdom Hall
(which, come to think of it resembled
somewhat of a log cabin on the inside)
and would return to my old bedroom
good ol' 2013 west Sherman
the room where I decided to become
a writer/lost my virginity/slash prayed
every night for my wayward soul
the house of my childhood that appears
in my dreams at least once a week.....

This happened for three consecutive days.
Each day we would sit in the same pew
where I would find myself closer in proximity
to there aesthetic electricity of her
smile than I would the previous day
we would both look at each other
feel each other, move closer to the
elusive other, although, with the
exception of stargazing into the
vicinity of the others forehead for lengthy
periods of eternity no word
was ever verbally boomernaged
between us. The third day
(waking up in my old
bedroom, heading back to the
pew in the Kingdom Hall church)
We found ourselves in the same pew
our bodies were now
sitting closer than they had ever
sat before. We were close
enough to grope hands
and I could feel the
time signature of her breath
beckoning me to come close
even closer to her body if
possible.

At the end of the
long day I turned to
her and finally spoke
asking her, very simply
and somewhat coy in a
junior high "need a
date for the sock-hop
last minute I'm asking my
band geek partner" sort of way
if she would like to meet for coffee

She replied back with a smile that
ricocheted flecks of light from the
world to come. I told her I would meet
her at a Denny's (????) for coffee in a
half hour and exited the Kingdom Hall
floating, emotionally elated
that I had a date with the
most beautiful girl I had ever seen...

On my way to the Denny's I found myself
ensconced in the arteries of an
emerald labyrinth of a futuristic
Barnes and Nobles. I went over
to the waterfall shelves where
I knew my books would one day
be displayed. There were lime-
aproned employees who kept
badgering me to make a purchase.
Visually I racked the shelves
searching for a rose to deliver
to my spiritual companion
after searching for an hour
I realized that the only thing I was
to give her was already in my chest
and that the gift would by metaphysically
reciprocated by the atmosphere of her
heart and eternal scent of her voice
close to my pulse. The bookstore
employee kept on badgering me
to make a purchase but when
I refrained they grew bitter
that I had monopolized so much time
within the contours of their
store and left them without a
single commission.

As I walked out into the
sunlight, anticipating the sight
of her smile I found that one
of the store employees had
stashed a puzzle (of a tree)
in my pocket as I walked out
Upset, and thinking that they
were trying to frame me as a
thief, I took out the puzzle
and smashed into jaded
fractures outside the store.


I saw the Denny's where I
was to meet my beloved.
It lay just beyond a bridge.
As I was attempting to cross
the bridge I saw that the
President of the University
where I work and the Basketball
team were drowning in a boat accident.

Without thinking I plunged into the
river fishing out each individual one
or two at a time. By the time I was
done saving prestigious members of
my university I realized that I would
never make across the bridge to see
the smile of my beloved.

I was too late.