as I write with one foot
stuck in dark mud the other

unresponsive for reasons
I can’t discover lights

flicker throughout the day I’m
more full of fewer thoughts with

air enough for me to ascend
the brilliant sharp mountain

I have kept my pockets empty for
I have kept my back straight against through

years of small work and I
see the check on its way

before I’ve ordered it’s my fault
I should have gotten here as soon as

the neighbors finished dancing
on our ceiling and the sky

changed to business casual blue so with
my knuckles sore I crack another nut

but what if one thought survives
somehow the pressure of space

as the small stones crawl from the sea
wall after the grey is gone

and we work into the overhyped
night sponsored by what you would rather

remember a castle visited
through a dream that always asks too much

what would it sound like
to walk out on the sound

gulls chase
gulls for a bit

that sound
breathing
needles

so I hope for green
through the still black
door to see color to
burst into bloom into
color burst and burst

what thoughts I would have liked
putting them on a shelf or

but what would it sound like
opening my mouth the way

the white heron hides its neck
am I too late

do I keep
taking notes on sheets of ice

with our top ten favorite escape routes
blocked by the Wal-Taco Bellrizon
Forest Fire we need a self-care moment

so ask the app politely not to track
my suicidal cycles yes you’re right
about the screams and the force of friction
that grinds momentum to a

though officially we did enjoy and
positively review his album of dogs
snoring once the spring had lost its youthful

spring we waited for the next
mandatory office party

and with a little effort
we drank it down despite
what we knew but faster and

though we seem to be getting
off topic here is something
you’ll need to convincingly
say if you want to move up
to the rank of cannibal

it should be more than cotton
candy though I lack
a recipe my hands have just
this tiny pen filled with
latency and the ladder is rotten

how many more nights

the sun bobs up and down
I look the other way that burning
you say it’s the weekend well why
not warp the mirror a little more

I can’t remember
why I entered this race

and I want to go to war with
each slender shadow

my feet must be cut from my shoes as soon

as the sun returns some color to those skulls

from under a rock hear me sing and walk on