solar power recalibrates my philosophies

by Kati Flores

After all this survival,

I stop dead in my tracks

in the middle of rush hour pedestrian traffic.

Finally throwing my arms in the air,

chin tilting up to the ad:

“Sun-kissed?”

            No, silly billboard.

Body systems ablaze with solar psychedelics.

Skin layered in profuse sweat.

Hair lathered, not with false “sun-kissed” detergent claims,

but with evidence that winter did not destroy us.

Sun salutations against the pavement.

Worshipping noon’s glorious sun.

High like a basking lizard.

Drunk on summertime fuel.

BIO: Kati Flores is a nurse and emerging writer. Her work has appeared in Intima, The Calendula Review, Auxocardia, and Yellow Arrow Journal. When not running around in the emergency department, she's looking for bookstores, Greek food, and mountain trails.