I can't walk all the way to the river again, never again, never again
there is something in the junipers of my mind
haunting from the edge of the dark spot
light dots or maybe haldol, spells in chemical form
a swarm of bad tidings, we keep on surviving regardless
Until one day you don't anymore

Switchin up my smokes, inhale broken hailstones and rhinestones on your cheekbone
Scarred and regal, eagles claw in claw plummeting, no care for ground or impact
Retract all the bad thoughts that keep you from sleeping, turning little top in the corner of the room
A clutch of blooms, rotting and hyacinth and wet on your fingers, the scent lingers
Burning sage in every last corner, one day smudge it all out, feeling about a foot tall and shrinkin

She hates mushrooms
says they smell like dirt
and grow on **** and darkness

She hates green beans
because her thumbs still ache
from seven summers
snapping tips

She hates kale
because she don't wanna
chew for days
and her jaw clicks

She loves onions and garlic
the baseline
of everything going right

She loves the sweeter cabbages
melted down in bacon fat
topped with snap peas and walnuts

She'll cook for anybody
willing to listen
to her sizzling grease

She'll caramelize your mind
question every savory intention
every bitter herb in your teeth
salt every wound till it sweats
and goes limp in the pan

She travels with her tongue
her pantry her passport:
cumin, coriander, cinnamon,
cilantro and cardamom
in simmering stews of goat
and collard greens.

Her knife has a keen edge
and she cracks the joints of dead birds
like splitting cheap bamboo chopsticks.

Her eyes go wide and silent
at the range
and when the burners fire
the whole world gathers and waits.

Objects, so attached
what did you do?!
I hear a voice yelling
in the darkness
forward always
forward
Faces cannabilizing their own cheeks
leaking and reeking
left in the sun
roadkill
Silently we confide our little secrets
words secreted
like pus
spider bites
Cherries bright and bitter
why do I only feel
comfortable
talking to you
Call in September, I remember
but I dont
think there will be
much changing
I was one laning and you took a sharp left out of my life
Don't even know how to say sorry anymore
But here I am

Light strobes across my vision, being shown new patterns
on the perfect shiny paint job
you take such attention
in waxing

Train blowing its horn at one thirty two in the morning
moaning out over
miles of razor
live oak

When it all lets out, and the bars bleed back home
we find where
those without
one go

A tunnel into another **** tunnel, never find surface
The train is screaming now, you can hear her ringing in gathered turmoil
boiling up and off and gone
to some other track in the back of an alleyway of a world

Toes curled around the nose, shift center and reenter lane
Hemlock and wolfsbane
triple sixes rolled
on celoo dice
nothin nice

Plastic everything, saran wrap all your guts back together
Entomb the redwoods in bubble wrap
Force feed your children corner store bags
It's raining plastic and everything is getting full
I wonder if you cut up every whole thing, could you melt it together again with plastic
Chemical smoke black and pouring, melt it all down
Wear it on our head, a screaming crown
Bearing witness to our deeds, the road we're walking down

Flying unhinged down, scouring all the carbon to clean
Burnt, unseen, hidden under the same clothes you wore yesterday
Swing, sway, find a new way to grind it down into pumice
Pummel puffed lungs through hollow ribs
New rigs, tie up ends, loose, chop off the caboose, fend for yourself
What do you tell, to the ones you were supposed to protect
Trying to recollect if I even tried
But I don't think I did
and I don't know how
to live with that