Dear man in the moon,

all I wish for
is that when it ends,
you might tell me
I am brave.

I'm going back to the hospital
you tell the train window

that's good* I say to your hair
it's best to be safe

I don't know what is best
yes you say but you don't know either.

Pick a daisy
in a field
of daisies
and you have
offered purpose.

I tried to **** myself again
you said into the subway window

clickety-clack* said the train
in December said your reflection

I know I said but I didn't really
I didn't really know anything

you should probably stop
trying that I mean I stammered

I know

I had nothing else to say
you had nothing else to do

we sat in broken silence
until the train found my stop

clickety-clack
it whispered to me.

I saw
my reflection
in grandfather's
   old whiskey glass

                            when I
                                was not
                                     looking.

"It's cold out here,"
he told me.
"I'm cold.
Coffee will make me warm.

"It's what cold people drink to be warm,
but it doesn't warm them up.
Because they don't feel the cold,
they are the cold.

"I meet a lot of cold people out here."
He grinned, coughed,
and held out a coffee cup.

The man outside the coffee shop
was always right.

You
are
my
best
days.