Cover

Late sunsets in the last third of summer
make it hard to go to sleep
when I’m supposed to

Reaching for dead electronics
in a broken car with no AC
while the destination
gets less worth it
every mile

I have seen all the giant redwood trees
towering together in one forest
we have not yet gotten tired of

I would rather stop
and eat lunch somewhere
like a diner where old women
read the newspaper

and are less informed for having
spent the eyesight

With some convincing
we are back now in the city
with its tower glass

and never ending traffic lights

I have seen the dismantled
blocks where the answers
are always cheap cans of paint
to cover up the broken hearts
and promises

Still that portrait
of a girl
on the side of the dead pharmacy
is beautiful

but it killed her
to be everywhere

and now

The dead cover the dead
who are not anywhere