residual voices casting
ruffled dusty shadows
of uneven pulsing
one sure burst cries through
woolen cloth
humid walls, yet
hollow and dark over my eyes

sad sag and lost-its-pep grey-blue
dingy-typed letters overlapped
I am too disturbed
by the pulling on my temple
and the taughtness
of my scalp
like the thin skin was instead
a weathered safety blanket