at the corner café after a summer storm

depending on the angle
stoplights blend together

i don’t know what color red and green
are supposed to make

but i know they’re metaphors
for yes and no [stop and go]

i forget what color permission is

i’ve really got my head stuck
in a cloud now

i feel a complete surrounded-ness
something like suffocation

it reminds me of the time
i think i almost drowned

i really had no choice

but to let myself become enveloped
and give the fog of confusion a hug

when i run away i’ll only see
this blazing red light

and i’m not going to stop
even though i’ll ask for forgiveness

is it a sin to keep going?

Lauren Brandmeier is a graduate student at Minnesota State University, Mankato where she studies communications and teaches English 101. She is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is an alumn of Carroll University. In her free time, she is either scouting out an iced latte, working out, or binging Schitt’s Creek on Netflix.