POETRY | COMPETITION

Non-Player Character

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Photo by Alexander Jawfox on Unsplash

Fight with eyelids, stay up
manipulate hours
pretend you’ll win
I feed off your fight
before I decorate locations
with your affixed attention,
bring a shovel
were you expecting roses?

No introductions
guess we took the advice
to start in the middle
drop the reader into action
no monsters at their heels
health at low, 1 bar out of 5
flip a key, ever so slightly
and the air goes dark mode.

Stretch the flash in ashen sand,
jump-start my stationary heart.

Withdraw musty blindfolds
to divulge locomoting walls
of liquefied clocks
ticking expositions in tandem
seeking aid in coded exigency.

I arrived, did anyone notice?
it’ll never be enough
crack my cards upside down
hold me under until I drown
because I…