Duplex (We dug holes deep enough to bury ourselves)
- Jun 11, 2021
- 1 min read
by Noreen Ocampo
We dug holes deep enough to bury ourselves, sand blooming dark beneath our neon shovels.
Our skin bloomed beneath the neon, darkening sun
& we danced, red-faced, away from the ocean,
away from our mother, red-faced at the table. We never managed happy summer vacations.
Happy summer vacations were for families
who loved each other the way they should.
I loved my brother the way I should, always. We were six & thirteen at the beach.
When you are six & thirteen, you don’t understand
why love sometimes burns, jellyfish-electric.
I wanted to save my brother from burning, so we dug holes deep enough to bury ourselves.
Noreen Ocampo (she/her) is a Filipina writer and poet based in metro Atlanta. Her work appears in {m}aganda magazine, Taco Bell Quarterly, and Hobart, among others, and she studies English, film, and media at Emory University. Say hello on Twitter @maybenoreen!
