we are so timid
(there is no we)
a poetry review that reads like pain
here at the nucleus
your absence
in back to school electric yellow

who taught you to stand in doorways like a benediction?
mega-dogs sniff you out in dreams
you chew with your eyes closed
just for the vertiginous rush

careful now
your humility is inscribing its curve
while the distance oscillates and breathes

lines in blue ink trace the third metatarsal
synovial heat
& the mermaid who longed for legs
meets the sea witch in deep water plaza
you will have a terrible pain like a knife cutting through you and this pain will never leave you

such careful engagements
domestic razor
so this is why you look so vacant so often
this will always be the place for post-mortems
incessant returns to that afternoon
your hands that dog

please stop talking about what you need
we are held up as model
we are held up as luck

your langour collides with a history it can’t comprehend
ophthalmic fear
your tongue’s indulgence

a proper summer and none of this would be happening
(remember that the sun saved us)
webcam headshots
& 25 more days of rain

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