Splinters – other animals

in the way you cut open an apple or when those few holes in the canopy kindle a longing for your famous original teeth

you almost broke your promise but never mind since the entire ecosystem is leftovers and punchlines of exhausting stories at brunch

with the night’s old trick rainbow reflecting off the participation trophy we try our best to waddle past the open door to dreams of anonymous revenge

the bathers finish sprouting lightning from a dime’s worth of discount sound so we return to embellishing the replicas of souvenir carcasses

abandoned on the icy shore the poem I was sure would turn me into the man who is never asked to wear the gorilla suit at team-building events

exhausted from the day’s events she lies down and crushes the homes of 37 people

and what do I know about scene setting the unruly leaves stir in the attic of dandruff the bundle of letters locked by a swallowed key

over the sound system your approximate name and number for the mandatory slow dance and performance review

with time running out and the clasp broken the last thing the mortuary students needed was this extended commentary on the subtext of that smirk