One For Free

A tree grows aloneand dangles its branchesover a pond.This scene existsin every earthly cornerbut all this lonesomebark cannot collectsomewhereinto a forest of its own. It wouldn’t want toif it could. The sunlightand the simple shoregive up everythingthey have to itfor free. It’s also whereshe likes to readafter walking overwith her stack of books,she alternates between.When […]

Bottle Rain

Duct tape on a fridge handlekeeps it hanging on for ages.File cabinets full of people’s namesshake and whisperwhen there’s nobody around. A string of towns, all no morethan eight miles apart,exchange flesh and bloodbetween them and itsustains them throughthe decades into centuries. No more nights out in the numbinglights and bottle rain,those days will not […]

To Argue With A Block Of Stone

The alley goes on foreverall beaten up betweenthe disconnected shedsand knee high grass.The people here situseless now encasedin some new statuelike malaise.Human hands just slowthings down and bleedtoo easy on the rougherparts of whateversculpture we flashcredit cards to pay for.The silver chainaround her neck getscold after some timeunder the spinning fan.The lights buzz untilthey turn […]

Visiting The Other Side

We carved boats out of dead treesand cooked our food on the endsof heavy knives.It took two thousand years but wemade it here to shake and tremblein the silence of this empty house. Others watch a power linetorn in last week’s stormsway like empty gallowsby the roadside. Little towns pass aroundbaskets of pepperswhispering abouthow trees […]

Consensus

A girl scrolls on her phonein her dark roomand doesn’t sleep at all.The next day at schoolconsists of making the oppositeof eye contact with anyoneand everyone. I point this out not to sayit should be different.The water markon the concrete stairsleading down to the streampresents a shadowof a flood. The last straw in a man’s […]

Lifelong

Walk a while downthe dusted streetwhere boys and menunload furniturefrom trucks withoutthe slightest shade.The alleys wheregrandmothers pour outcold coffee from their windowswithout warning.Pool halls where the lifelongpace for nights without a dreamand put it all downon some simple shotsand miss. The community poolswhere teenagers wear redand pull blue childrenfrom blue waterand breathe life back to […]

Out Of Here

The take outin its lantern likebox cools down too fastand tastes wrong,but we eat it. She kills fliesone after the otherwith a red swattercrushing themagainst the yellow wall. A car drives into a hydrantflooding the yardand street and the soundsoutside become sirenswailing in the sun. A baseball cracksoff a wooden batand careens offto the outfieldwhere […]

Fast

Money printed blue fadesuntil it matchesall the rest of it.Burnt leaves swirlin the birdbathcracked almost in halfbut holding water. Thirty something year old mentake their cars apartand put them back together.All hours of the night ringwith terriers fightingover dead ratsin the muddy yard. Boys pick up girlson their bikesand they go offto sample bright starsof […]

Last Line Of Defense

The crowd waits in the humidityfor the night to start and thingsto brighten up again.A boy and girl become the last awakein the abandoned houseand sit with their backs against the wallamidst a strobe light.They show each other knivesthey carry as a last line of defenseout in those sagging streetsthat drift apart like ice sheetsin […]

River Valley

In this valley where the oldall live like teenagers.Their curfews breakand law comes downlike cold hail.Bats swarm togetherlike a moving cloudand yell their waybetween dead trees. In this valley the wintersmelt off slowly into rain.The grass sways like watchingelders in the erratic breeze.The trees birth only poison fruitsthat look almost just as appetizing.Fights end only […]