Helium
© Gerry Gomez
by Matt Curtis
I siphoned you
into latex balloons:
ruby, sapphire, and emerald
tied with golden strings.
You are the first by-product
of the stars, the reason
the sun started spinning.
I let the last balloon
slide through my fingers
and into the sky,
your chemistry so simple
earth doesn’t have
the gravity to hold you.
I watch
until the sun blinds me: staying
for now
where I belong.
Bio
Matthew Curtis is a creative writing student attending Salt Lake Community College. He dabbles in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and the spaces in between. He graduates this year and will transfer to Brigham Young University in the fall. He is continually inspired by what he does and does not know.
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