Poetry by Joshua Canela

Edited by Shazfa Khatri

What are moments but fleeting

But passing 

I need to hold them just once

A few times, if I’m lucky

forever, if I dream

I must be choking on my end

Hoping to eat you up

Lest I feast on mountains

Lest I swallow the sea

For I love you so

But there in the stars

Lounging in the lamplight

Waiting on a whim

Left a message 

Under a glow so dim

So I’ll savor skipping stones

Embracing each one

Before I throw with all my might

Reflecting smiles with every ripple

Until my dream, you’re gone

And out of sight

Writer’s Statement: While writing this, I thought about how we can interpret our sleeping dreams as unconscious desires and believe dreams can manifest from our yearning or grieving. I also thought about how people think of dreams as aspirations and ambitions. Thus, in the poem, I wanted to lament how fleeting our desired outcomes can be and how it can be gluttonous, obsessive, and self-destructive, yearning for them to stay constant. Yet, these negative feelings eventually pass when we are present, and we let them go like dreams after sleep.