ah, to move
with gentle
agility
through the
night...

instead
a clumsy
staggering
racket devoid
of grace

i turn my
head, so the
mucus can
slide to
the other
side of my
skull

and the
ringing in
my ears
swills from
right to
left

this is
something
else, a
shallow
breathing
through the
throbbing
night

an insipid
dance with
exhaustion
breathing in
the shards
of this
shattered
heart

the impermanence
of this notion
that this is
us standing
at the edge
of the tar pits.
our future
now a bubbling
blackness.
the stench of
this darkness,
the coagulation
of it in
our throats
and sinuses,
the attempts at
a simple breath
have now become
our belabored
futility.

the braying of great beasts
trundling through the
opaque mists of their
nefarious sorrows

their legs giving out
their souls cracking
with sounds like
arthritic knuckles

their chests heave
once, twice and
crush beneath the
plodding weight of

their surrendering
hearts

i have
a jealous
green heart
blackened
with smoke
and soot
and cliche
splashing
through
sentimentality
like a
drowning
idiot

the switch blades
quick as lightning
enter at the base
of the skull
where that flesh
is tender, soft.
into where
everything is
white hot.

into the blinding
light i go
dancing with
falling leaves

there is no
comfort in
this repose

there is no
reverence,
no solace

for a
dying
world