1.

waking up to a city where dreaming is clichéd
and lives and lies
of old men
find their way into books
with covers that have
fornicating ants
in the backgrounds
and words like the gutter
strangers and cool
to the touch.

2.

this friendship ***** and you know it
we keep finding ourselves
in each other’s arms
wandering
as if drunk
it’s hard not to hold my hand to your lips
and feel your hot breath
on my palm
yesterday you kissed me
while I was asleep
and left without waking me up
but your lips left a delicious imprint
on mine
and my cat meowed at it
all afternoon.

3.

we took to the empty streets like a disease
and ended up blaming
each other
for getting lost
in the emptiness

they called our names
on the speakers
over the fairgrounds
under the balloon bridge
around the candy cart

everyone heard it, but us
we were too busy getting lost
by then