She drifted through the room, gorgeous, shining. Her long hair cascaded down her back, rippling in the light from the candles. Daring the flames to near her. Her head held high, she wandered the crowd, dress flowing behind her.

She was a commanding presence. Unapologetic, alluring, soft.

Men were drawn to her as if dazed and parched, and she their sole libation.

She paid them no mind, and instead slid through the party like a snake on the hunt. Her skin glistened and her neck dripped with jewels. Spoils, no doubt. She could be ruthless.

And still, she charmed. A smile there, a sigh here. She'd come near you and run a hand over your arm, or touch a silky finger to your lips. By the time you'd think of something to say, she'd have turned away and let out a sparkling laugh.

Everyone adored her, but few risked approaching her. You could smell the fear radiating off the party guests, the anticipation. Just one wrong word, and she'd overflow with rage. It's been said that she could defeat any man, no matter his size, with a longsword and one arm held behind her back. No one dared put that rumor to the test.

And so she floated, calm, through the crowd. Untouched, unbothered, and the most deadly and beautiful thing you've ever seen.

I skipped stones

across the lake

perhaps that’s how

your thought

process regenerates

I was brushing

my teeth

when he told me

you died peacefully

in your sleep

your presence

a faucet of innocence

spilling over

the edge

of the sink‘s porcelain

I hope you‘re

somewhere at rest

we are under

the ripples

of your lasting presence

She is water. She moves with a fluid grace, soundlessly padding along the ground, an apparition and a beauty, a coy smile on her face. She shakes her head and her tresses flow around her weightlessly, suspended in the air, tumbling forever. Men want her. Men need her; if they don't have her for nine consecutive days they will die. They crowd around her, jostling for position, but never dare touch her, lest her evansecent features dissolve at their crude touch. They start forward, but she melts them with a kind smile, and as they slowly collect in a stagnant puddle on the ground they rue the decisions that led them to their current state of unworthiness.

Pushing through the crowd is a restless young maverick intent on trying his luck. Alas, he is oil. His thick hair is slicked back with black tar and bacon grease for that erotic je ne sais quoi. He wears a cowboy hat with an aesthetic that somewhat clashes with his black trench coat, carefully chosen to conceal from the world his pain and poor hygiene. After a long and difficult battle with gum cancer, he resolved to never again chew tobacco. Instead, he swallows it whole. He's a hacker, and life is his computer. He's a daredevil. He's a tempest. He's responsible for the suicides of over a dozen social workers, maternity ward nurses, and nuns. He's a fart wafting in on a cool summer breeze. He drank paint thinner once. His brain is mostly lesions. How the hell does this idiot even survive? What does he eat, other than fucking chew? I've never seen him eat anything else, does his body just get everything he needs from it? I know what's under that trench coat (he's fucking fat) but he doesn't even fucking eat?!? He's a living violation of the first law of thermodynamics! I'm just now being told that he once supplied a local sperm bank with over a liter of spunk from his own personal collection. When the doctors emptied the jar they found a my little pony figurine inside! In their haste to discard the excretions of this worthless slag of human refuse, they accidently spilled it into their main vat! His hydrophobic sperm rose to the top, and he has now fathered over two thousand children across the globe, on par with the great conqueror of history: Genghis Khan! Perhaps this is what compelled Mother Teresa to deepthroat a Colt .45. Humanity is lost!

It is inevitable that water and oil meet, and when they do they inevitably clash. They are diametrically opposed: one polarizing, one covalent. But what filth and promiscuity lurks beneath her pristine and tranquil surface? What sparks of intelligence dance in his lifeless cow eyes? Meet the dynamic crime-fighting duo: Water and Oil!

I’m as slippery as a wet fish.

I love to to work my way through many things.

I quench the thirst of many.

I’m always wanted.

I‘m a refreshing change.

The sun is my enemy, its touch burns my core.

I‘ve been everywhere, seen everything and know I’m of great importance.

I control this planet, without me it would fall.

Depended on by millions but I’ve also taken the lives of millions.

I love to flow across the earth and carve out new paths.

I hold an almighty power which for me is a delight.

How you surround me!

When the bitterness

of Winter

stings me,

When the sweltering

of Summer

sizzles,

your caress comforts.

A bit of (for lack of a better word) background on me. Conceived in a brackish backwater where fresh and saltwater meet. Get wet and show their H2O faces. Spit out a swell thing like me. A drip dropped in my case. Without a thought. By two bodies that bumped ugly’s and waved goodbye. Yours truly left at the epicenter hardly a ripple disturbing the surface. No identity and no idea I also existed in two other physical states.

Don’t get me heated. It makes me gassy. A cold shoulder leaves me frozen. When melting I get sassy. "Rain rain go away come again some other day" Is just one of the ways humans attempt to harass me. Thunder is my retort. A gas cloud passing massive ass cheeks. Hail a death nail. Until I quickly run off to were molecules amass in creeks.

For a little while I got caught up in acid rain. Dabbled in psychedelics. It helped me let go of some pain. Did a stint as bong water. Until kicked over I poured out on the carpet, evaporated, and left that white shag stained. A smell worse than vomit that stayed with me like a ball and chain. I was pissed every other time I kissed the sky. And grew only denser as the mountains below got closer. It makes me edgy having no personal space. Of course I turned into a snowflake and argued my case. Is this the face of water? ☃️ A mockery rolled out and made to wear a lump of coal. Imagine that? Where’s my rainbow bridging H2O’s favorite states. To send me somewhere tropical. I’ve been much to cold as of late. "Arrivederci" and a wave goodbye. "Oh swell there‘s

another bitter pill to swallow on my plate"

She is beautiful,

No one who sees her can deny it.

She gives life,

But can take it away as quickly.

She Slushed away

Wounded by words

Flung

She wrung her sponge like self

Squishy as she was

She fired

Thank you for everything. I can barely imagine what you have seen on Earth. The places you have been, things you have touched and beauty you have created. You have truly left me in awe, Water. I need to ask a question that is on everybody’s mind though. Which came first; gas, liquid or frozen water? You make up most of me so I want to know the original you. Thanks again for everything.

Signed,

A DOG

You brush me, flush me.

You chug me, spit me.

You squirt me, splash me.

You scrub me, pollute me.

So it makes me wonder…

When I am all used up,

Will you finally appreciate me?