Cebo Campbell

Yellow Scarf

A yellow scarf, today, breaks our secret routine. We take the 5 at Franklin to Union Square. The sound of metal grinding and greasy air makes up the spaces where we do not speak. Yellow Scarf hangs unevenly over your shoulder, a lover, co-dependent, and no more in love with you than he can speak the definition of such a thing. In his nonchalance, we share intimate nothings, gestures of sighs, glances at watches, phones and floors just for the fleeting thrills we might steal from our peripherals. “Nice scarf,” A lady says. You always exit before I do. Gizzi’s greets us with dim lights, warm coffee and quiet from the city’s vibration. You and Yellow Scarf head towards the back where a seat saved among friends await. It is our routine. Yet everyday feels like a stumble, a staggering loss of balance in the pace of breathing–reeling, grasping at the air between us hoping that just once the city might look away…not gleam so brightly on our silence. This is our routine. Tomorrow, I promise myself, I will say hello. The streetlights come on. You always leave when the evening purples. In my peripherals, I always watch you and lean toward the lupine air that trails. This is our routine. Today, though, the Yellow Scarf hangs on the back of your seat. You left it. A lover jilted; the space around your shoulders vacant.

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About

I am an author and a Creative Director. My latest books are:

Sky Full of Elephants – coming 2024

Violet in Some Places – Available at Not A Cult

As a full-time creative (Chief Creative Officer at Spherical), I spend most days at the desk leading a team of creatives to brand some of the best hotels in the world. So, I write in the nooks and crannies of my available time. I wake up at 5:30am just to get in a few hours putting words on paper. I write on the train. I write on planes. I write waiting in lines. I feel I have to write. The reason is simple: representation.

Cebo Campbell Author of Violet in Some Places

I often tell the story of Ferris Bueller; a kid who decides to skip school and, on charm alone, steals a car, impersonates a cop, drinks underage, tampers with computers, and at every step exposes his best friends to peril, only to go home and fall asleep with his mother to kiss him into sweet dreams. I asked myself if Ferris were Trayvon Martin, how might that story end? I know the answer. So do you. And this is why representation is so important. I aim to contribute more stories into the world that diversely feature regular (but beautiful) lives made extraordinary. Art, I believe, is the only way to accomplish this. All my creative work is inspired by and aims to add to all the great work in the world.

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