back to contents

i slept in the bed of my truck
between two cornfields
woke to ducks & chickens
geese & mite bite rounds pocking
my ankles / ringing my wrists
making mounds as they burrow
in / i peel the layers of skin
with my cheese grater fingernails
i blink back the crusting mucous
feel it scratch my raw eyes
unzip my sleeping bag & my dreams
let in what cool air the corn
sweat allows / before the day
boils over / i sneak in a cloud
lift above the corn before the sun does
feel myself purple with the dawn
open like a peony in this late
summer haze / sway with the frayed
flags & tired tulips / see me waylaid
a magnolia petal plashed down
onto the page you were just getting
ready to cry on / a point in time
when the screaming was in tune
when the drinking was in company
when the drugging wasn’t dangerous
& everything was beautiful, beautiful
the old hurt muted by all the new