INSIDE | OUT: unraveled

photo by catherine campbell

INSIDE | OUT: unraveled  

fourth year baily reese

I hope you're sitting in your best “I'm mysterious” & “I need to look as pensive as possible” spot.

A café, a cerulean couch, a cozy dimly lit corner - ‘tis whatever you fancy . 

“If you could get rid of any human emotion, what would it be & why?” 

[pause and REALLY contemplate this impossible question]  

Do your thoughts immediately turn to the dreadfully exhausting kinds? 

Anger, in its crimson glory - blurring everything you feel

Sadness, pinning you under the weight of a sweater knit from tears

Fear, electric pinpricks humming under the layers of your skin

But where there is fear: there is awe for things unfamiliar and surprising. 

Where there is sadness: there is a saudade kind of bittersweet nostalgia. 

Where there is anger: there lies passion somewhere, between the waves of heat. 

[Or are you unraveled by this question alone?] 

You begin to think about others…and settle amongst the warmer. 

Joy, illuminating, the color yellow personified 

Peace, tranquil in a sea of calm, sought after by all

Power, rushing through the veins - bold and bright 

Power, mirrored, can insight envy, competition, and disgust. 

Peace, can one be too calm? Ambivalence begins to creep through its cracks. 

Joy - it can be too consuming to realize that the once “yellow personified” turns into a numbing permanent grin. 

[answers may vary, as I expect.] 

but ENVY,

A four letter word that packs a punch in all of its two mighty syllables.

burns in the way that white pepper likes to catch in the back of your throat.

Not merely a thief of joy - a bandit that obliterates any sense of self. 

goodbye to individuality, hello to the cult of personality

When prompted this question under a starry sky

I thought it was perfect to provoke thought, to debate, to sit with, or to discuss. 

I see value in my experience with envy, because it forced me to realize that it only took about 10 seconds of courage to do or be anything I want. 

[Admittedly this is the significance of the Roman numeral tattooed on my right wrist, so I can confirm that I’m committed to this claim.] 

Reader, 

I hope you're still sitting in your best “I'm mysterious” & “I need to look as pensive as possible” spot & that maybe you’re thinking of this: if you got rid of any human emotion, there would be loss regardless of which one you would choose.