Contradictions

 he said, i never learned how to swim.

i told him, he was the one who was sinking. 

the memory woke up after years asleep. 

he said, my eyes were closed.

i told him, you're the one still dreaming.

he said, i was never drowning. i just stopped trying to breathe. 

the truth came in simmering kettles. on the verge of boiling. 

i watched the steam escaping. fascinated by its fury. 

i chase the glimmering prisms of euphoria as they erupt under my skin. 

they are mine. no one else's. 

i continue to run on tired legs. always in pursuit of that capricious paradise.