Wake Ups

Pretty girls walking dogs that don’t
belong to them, for money, make their way
around the block that I am stuck in
by this window looking out.
The tree outside has started growing into
the structure of the house
and has shifted every single thing diagonally.
The facility where the city stores its salt
is right across the street from the other
direction and when its cold I can tell
how bad the roads are by just checking
on the sizes of the piles.
I get out when I have to, and I know its time
when I can stand within the center of a room
and still be touching every wall.
I don’t make calls or really answer them,
but I have a landline now, so I’ve been listening
to the dial tone whenever I can.
I had a dream that I worked in a bakery,
and every time I thought it was about to end
it didn’t stop, until I held my hand
for hours in the oven.
Sometimes it feels like this one’s ending too,
but then it dawns on me that I’m awake,
and I really did just see that fish jump
from the river only to fall right back
with nothing new in its mind
than a foggy picture of me on the shore
looking bored but still not yet convinced to leave.