Playing Fair and Being Kind

TORMENT IN POIPU
Today, the temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure does what it always does. The air presses against my face and holds me stationary. On overcast days like this the dark courtyard of crooked, cement walkways and the fecundity of banana trees and abandoned gardens match the little death in my heart. She quietly passes down my right side, lost in her own thoughts, ignoring me, planning her next adventure. Despair covers us. Neither of us wants to be where we are. Our days pass like this and this day reminds me of what I left behind. I had to learn to breathe when this indifferent, warm, wet, heavy air visits. Grief and vulnerability pull me under for a moment. Then I fill my lungs and straighten. I deserve a Purple Heart.
G. M. Goodwin
2nd of July, 2019