Brochure: A Guide to Stillness

---

Nicholas Panlilio

 

the bedroom is a canvas of curdled milk.

redwoods intrude from the floor

into the brachiopod compounded into an infant’s chest.

 

a deadbeat man awakens to the subfrequencies of yells and sirens—

 

pills are scattered across the floor

tracing down the banisters outside

and up the tickled flytrap.

 

ear-splitting cicadas ricochet within his esophagus. then, a twisting

in the washing machine of innards and exoskeletons;

the empty sunroom in the hospital’s basement.

 

a mound of grasshoppers encroach a kimono,

unattended as per the subjections of the baby.

Or maybe they were crickets?

 

yet still, all is tolerated.

pills are scattered across the floor

trailing down the tickled flytrap.

 

unable to recuperate, flies scatter—

their annunciations echo and splinter,

but the DJ plays nothing but a hum.

 

---

Nicholas Panlilio is an ITI and cognitive science major in the Honors College Class of 2027. Coming from Union, New Jersey, Nicholas discovered a love for poetry as a side hobby, mainly originating from quick 1AM writing sessions in his Notes app. In his free time, he likes playing video games with friends or checking off another movie off his watchlist.

Nicholas wrote this poem in a course taught by Joanna Furhman, who selected the piece for inclusion in WHR.