i seldom wait for permission
just like how the ice comes quickly in mid-december
just like how we congregate around the fire surrounded
by the dead tree log cabin

waiting for a new world
face to face, we wait
fill the time with conversation
little silence
you didn't notice the sun coming up

it's a new day
do we have a new way?

yellowjacket, you're the canary
in my coal mine
let me know when things get toxic
and evacuate

send your smoke up the chimney
before we start coughing up
bruised lungs

just like how the ice comes in mid-december
your air has frozen these waters
and now we can walk around without
fear of drowning

just like how we congregate around the fire
surrounded by a weeks worth of loneliness
and enough beer and friends
to get by for another week of transition in
twilight times
i see the sun from the corner of my eye
and we walk to the window
still talking about
the farthest reaches of the mind

and
i suppose we've been there, or else
we'd be a bunch of midnight liars
smoking cigarrettes and telling fairy tales
about the things the world
won't allow

yellowjacket, dear canary
what have you found today?
whistle in my ear about whatsoever
brought you here

can you see through the darkness down here?
can you see the diamonds shining down there
where the heat comes up?

someday
when the work is done
we'll walk out from the mouth of the beast
into the midwinter sterile air
and we'll be just two small
dots of paint
on a white field canvas

one black, one yellow