Radiator
like hot breath
reminding you of something
wrong, stinging teeth, sweat
and sore muscles
built up with lactic acid, a changing
and slightly more favorable wind

Central air, central heat
some unsung heroes and sparks
of something new, are you sure
there aren't spikes in my
drink, there's sharp pains
in my throat

How was it supposed
to feel, can't find the right
sounds and the room stinks
of hot leather stretched
over decaying bones

Just blank, and lines
that stretch beyond thousandths
of a decimal degree, traverses
Norway to Lithuania in a day
maybe two, with favorable winds
it's hard to be sure

6/8 masked with the bass drum
on the twos and fours, it just feels like
something extraneous and unnecessary
and other couplets of two words
that mean the same thing

Anger like snakes, like tentacles
the chaos of a cephalopod
the cunning of the reptile
cold-blooded, living in the deeps
the depths of storm clouds
and waving from an airplane

Forever goodbye, river
and all the secrets you've swept upstream
just to be churned at the confluence

Ghosts in shadows
shadow ghosts
and I whisper stories through a straw
tangled nonsense
and you keep on turning
in multiples of nine
and I count your steps,
the number of rotations

What and how do hands
move so fast and are
you sure you didn't mean
to use a pattern because
the seams seem uneven
moving up these curvy roads

Why can nothing touch
the reflex under your right arm
that pushes you to numb
and tingling, but one man
can make one phone call
and millions are at war

What one wooden branch
wouldn't swing back to serve you?
Hoist you up and save your knees
from the explosion on contact and dirt
particles nestled in your skin
and twigs tangled in hair

Our wrists don't hold up
like they used to

On tightest dull contact
I waited to note
the small dots and moss in the bark
as it slid over your bones
and your yelp of fear
and the air moving under
your feeble hands grasping

Don't tell me to hold on
when you release with such ease

The puddles from last night's rain
reach up towards the clouds
like they were never there at all

Glowing rooftops and alligator skin
washed up on green sand beaches
camouflaged, hiding shifty eyes
except irises purple and pupils expanding
what does distortion look like
reverberating through salty waves

Light flashes between the fifth
and minor four like a polaroid
but you probably don't remember
that kind of instant gratification
in a modern world where tangible
means antiquated and to make
means a veritable lifetime

Buck up, kid
the world is full of shortcuts
that introduce dense foliage
and exotic invasive species
and first dances on wedding days
and bare feet scuffed and scraped
racking up years of tear
and callouses leathery and intimidating

When the rain disintegrates your cover
and your muscles ache and strain
touch your toes and listen
to birds singing in the wind

Stripped down, stripped
bare handlebars on coldest ride
into the wind and shouts loud
discouraging and dissonant
whipping faces clean with
enticed tears and red noses
pedaling harder
into the fog

Pin down butterfly wings
on frozen dissection table
and claim aviary consent
by the beating of its wings
in specific, modern rhythm

Let's all don masks
of ****** beetroot red
and live our lives like lab rats
locked in dingy basements

Desperate avoidance of pronouns, articles
and questioning favorability of parts of speech
in desperate attempts to compartmentalize neurosis
like you're embarrassed and I'm foolish
swimming in this sweater
that was never mine anyway
although in dreams it was bequeathed
and I hold tight to that reality

How can a forest be on fire
while it's raining?
How can you put aside your
shiny weapons and arch voice to smooth sounds
lyrics that speak nascent truths
excuse me, sir, if I ask quietly
will you provide some affirmation

Getting to me, getting me
it moves slow, it shouts
I never forget my luck, my two-step
I stay patient, hungry
I built a bunk bed in this speaker
are you planning to stay a while?

I'll touch your caveat if you touch mine
I'll sing your songs if you lie still