Improvidence (Blue)

I try to expel the blue glow that stabs

between the slats of dust-ridden blinds.
Ive already damned myself by rising
yet I waste an hour of sunlight in false
darkness. (I wonder) How many hours have I lost
to the pointless curtained mornings, the ones I
desired so deeply, stretched-out
moments on the corner between blue
light and stuck-shut eyelid (almost) blackness.
Still, I lie there, buried in sheets dripping
of sweaty dreams that I never finished--
not quite sleeping/not quite conscious.
Useless as ever (as usual). Im under
for the blue-tinged instances
bound by sleep-scented pillows, blankets
that envelop my (collective) self.



Back Porches

Drunk, wavering on a back porch:
thats where I bask--
drape myself in wry chaos,
second-hand smoke til I choke

Tell a stranger how I feel like a corpse,
but still, he just kisses behind my ear,
slips stiff fingers beneath the arch
of my back, which aches

Lie down on some kitchen floor, shake
out the loose junk that makes my neck creak
Ive no sense to spare








Molt


I.
Being here tonight
After all this time
Like stepping pink-skinned
From a sweltry shower
Into sharp, cruel snow




II.
Standing too still
As if the slightest jostle
Would tip out my contents
Spilling squalid filth
Staining the floor





III.
4am is a feeling
Not so much a place in time
Its a grey corridor
Hung with morbid paintings
Of pretentious martyrs










The Drive (Home)

I always notice
the frigid color
of the haze
that surrounds the streetlight
outside of your house

Its so bitter
I can see the words
coming out of you
in warm little puffs
condensing on the windshield

You say you have to take me home
but 5am on a Saturday
shivering in the passenger seat
is the closest Ill ever be




Unlikely Obituary

You must have been sturdy
to survive wastelands;
now sun-dried to
the delicacy
of brittle
leaves

You held every sensory
experience in humble
cavities that now
house tiny
insects