the bends

by Casey M. Rosen

in a state of subconscious reflection
on the train while the world rolls by 
you remember freshman year of college and the boy 
who played you Radiohead for the first time
 
in the confusing half-twilight of naivety
shy but determined in a storm trooper t-shirt
modestly changing in private because 
you're only strangers 
who desire their solitary existence alongside each other 
for just a moment 
 
and this evening, 
inevitable like a slow dream dancing 
across your mutual consciousness
until it's gone