#mandelstram
i must complete
this morning's traditions,
smoothly as best i can,
transition the dead bolt turning.
there is the feast to
prepare,
eulogies to compose
to heroes frozen to the floors
of transit points,
vast blue-iced miles
alter nothing
no amount of looking can change
the distant truth
that these wrinkled traditions
possess us
like great white birds flying
to siberia,
i am old here without
your tongue
it is foreign,
as foreign as yours and mine.
Sep 24, 2025
Sep 24, 2025 at 8:12 AM UTC