J. Hellend

J. Hellend

J. Hellend grew up in San Francisco, where he currently teaches creative writing and visual art. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in SmokeLong Quarterly, Not One of Us, Maudlin House, and various punk and graffiti zines that no longer exist. Find him on Instagram @jxhellend

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Speshal

Have you ever noticed that rainbow sheen floating on the surface of gutter puddles? 

Someone told me it's a chemical process that happens

when oil mixes with water. But sometimes, 

if the lighting is just right, 

I can see that same rainbow sheen all over the city. Dripping 

down tree trunks and reflecting 

off taxicab windshields. Hugging 

streetlights and riding 

the backs of pigeons

like they were tiny cock-eyed rodeo bulls. 

Sometimes the air is thick with it, and when I take a deep breath 

I feel it coat the inside of my mouth, 

slide down my throat and 

saturate my lungs with color. 

That's when I feel the lightest and life becomes effortless. 

One time I was on the back of the bus and someone asked why I had paint on my clothes. 

He didn't know it, but his eyes glittered with kaleidoscopic patterns. 

"He's a painter," a woman chimed in from across the bus, 

her face shimmering. 

"Naw, he's a tagger." A lustrous phantom burst from a third man’s mouth 

and we all shared a laugh, 

pushing on into the opalescent night.