The Balloon

by Denise Marie Belnap

I thought about you

today in the middle

of psychology while

a filmstrip about

human behavior clicked

on the white wall

of the auditorium.

The thought rose

in my brain like

a balloon at the rodeo

and bobbed

on the top of my mind.

I felt good for just

that moment today,

then somebody

said something and

the balloon burst.

Its empty corpse

fell to the bottom

of my imagination.