Galactic Glitter!

There's glitter absolutely everywhere!

(Takes a moment to brush out the gold flakes from the afro hair)

I'm not sure if it's my rising body temperature, creative inspiration, pure craziness, or the music that's got me doing this right now:

Painting gold stars on my bedroom walls is the absolute last thing I thought that I would be doing at 12 in the morning.

I mean, I guess I partly started doing it to get things off my mind. But I started thinking that whatever sky I navigate I need to know that I'm making a difference in the entire galaxy! I just couldn't live a suppressed life.

I remember when I was little that I loved loved loved The Little Mermaid!

I mean, what gay boy didn't, lol. I loved it so much that I wanted to create a little cove beneath my bed full of treasures of polly pocket towns, keys, posters of cute soccer men, legos, jewels, and sometimes even candy. Eventually one day my mom found it during spring cleaning and I ran into the bathroom trying to think of an excuse as to why this, all of this crap, was beneath my bed and why was I hiding it? When I came back out my mom said it was okay but just that I shouldn't keep so many things stored beneath. I think she knew though that she stumbled in on something private.

I guess since then I hate to suppress myself from others. I don't want to have to face that humiliation again--ever. So whenever I finish this sky I'll be sure to update and maybe I'll even include some of you in it!

Time To Pretend

By Gregory Apple

My fingers drip streaks of sky blue liquid across the canvas of a table top and then begin to paint suds over the crayon and ketchup stains. I unearth a field of blue flowers by slipping the grains of salt into my palm by the edge of the table. A kid must have drawn them beneath the plate when their parents weren't watching. Clever. I put my nose to the table to breathe in the tiny flakes of blue wax: elementary, woods, blood, dream catchers, adopti

on, love, a brother, and imagination.

When I was little I used to carry around notebooks and multi-colored pens. Each color would represent a different character I drew. Pink would often represent evil. Red would be brave like my brother. Green and blue would be friends forever. And brown... brown would be the color of love. I would draw stories of princesses, Digimon tamers, friends I wish I had, boys I wanted to fall in love with, challenges I would put my real friends through, myths and games I made up, and of course me.

I would be the coolest character of course. I would wear maybe five belts and a pair of goggles like the cool anime kids did on TV. Sometimes I would be an evil android out to destroy the world, a powerful Digimon Tamer that could defeat any opponent, a princess with magical powers but horribly in distress; I could be the ocean, I could control meteors in space, grow wicked cool jelly beans, and even create worlds of blue flowers.

My fingers dance over the picture one last time before I decide to wipe the table and get on with my job. The wax petals crumble the moment my rag washes over them and I thank the little kid who drew them in silence.

Later tonight I walk back over to the same table before getting ready to leave. The entire night after finding the picture I kept thinking about the kid that might have drawn it. I guess I just feel close to them in some really weird way. It's like finding a friend ten years too late. I smile a little and then... a brilliant beyond brilliant idea comes! I whip my head beneath the booth and look to see if they might have...

And YES! They have!

A field of waxy blue flowers completely take over the underside of the table!