{"id":5997,"date":"2021-01-11T09:05:38","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T09:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridareview.cah.ucf.edu\/?post_type=article&amp;p=5997"},"modified":"2021-01-11T09:05:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T09:05:38","slug":"metaphorical-ghosts","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/metaphorical-ghosts\/","title":{"rendered":"Metaphorical Ghosts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">There are so many ways to describe<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the fact that we die and are reborn<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">countless times: the New Year\u2019s resolution list,<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the myth of a phoenix rising from ashes,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">the box of hair dye and the scissors, the poets:<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\"><i>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/i><em>dying is an art, like everything else.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\"><em>I do it exceptionally well. <\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\"><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I do it so it feels like hell. <\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">But no one ever talks about the ghosts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The dead ones that that turn your bones<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">into a creaky, old haunted mansion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And no one talks about how frequently girls die<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">in a lifetime. Girl after girl after girl after girl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some of them are mischievous and hopeful,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">frolicking in your ribcage like a child who thinks<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 everything will turn out all right.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">Yet some of them are screaming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And when you hear the way she cried out,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">again, it keeps you up at night. You don\u2019t know<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 how to escape her, banish her,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">remove her like a threatening mass. But some of them<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 you encounter in the night like lost strangers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">That girl that walked the pier barefoot<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in a fluorescent bikini with other girls,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">that girl who hated herself so much<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 she had no understanding of the power<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">of her body. But the water\u2019s rhythm, hungrily<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 tonguing the sand, spoke its subliminal language:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">the eros that promised it would erupt in waves<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 within her body underneath a boy\u2019s body.\u00a0 So that<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">when the boys came along, sunned and shirtless<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in their glistening madness, and told the girls<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">to jump off the ledge, chanting, <em>do it, just do it,<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\"><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 don\u2019t think about it,<\/em> and the idea of drowning<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">passed briefly overhead like the shadow of a seagull,<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 she leapt in. And the boys laughed, caught it all on film.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">And you know she made it to the surface again,<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 gasping life more forcefully than ever,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">and the water droplets on her body<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 were proof of her glittering courage,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">toweled off a beat too slowly by the boys,<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and you know it was fine\u2014it was, yes, it was fine\u2014<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">she survived, she giggled, she gave the boys her number,<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 so who then is this young girl that just coughed<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"BodyA\">salted sand onto your poem with seaweed in her hair?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are so many ways to describe \/ the fact that we die and are reborn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6002,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[1751,6,1752,201],"class_list":["post-5997","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry","tag-anne-champion","tag-aquifer-the-florida-review-online","tag-metaphorical-ghosts","tag-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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