…sounds like nights in winter and the cold autumn rain before.
…draws focus, comforts, cools, smoothes the edges.
…carried me. There was only the car, “Blue,” and her.
…reminds me. I was…

I didn’t want to know.

once around the sun since the shedding began
free to drift as the grip releases
tearing as it goes
an eye emerges anew.

for years the gallery rang
with praise and fascination
colors flashed among the glass
to the child’s delight
when suddenly the mirrors
turned to face each other
banished his reflection

knowing still they sing
but never for his ears
starving eyes beg the visions to return
hear only echoes of cold closing
as the knife switch kills the final light

show’s over, kid.

immersed again
the gap dissolves in moments of denial, just
a child pretending
we’ll never need goodbye
memories stretch from now to then
a silken bridge riding the breeze
so familiar
so paper-frail

a step would mean my death again
and I should know by now, but
daydreams tell me I can cross, then
nightmares watch me fall

they tell me I can free myself
with just a simple choice, but
where is the will to turn away?

obscured in haze
your brilliant light becomes only
a glow, indistinct and cold
barely discernable from the fog
gathered and tightly contained
these private clouds
emanating from wounds not yet closed
grant me release from these fences
to resume the breeze
and restore the clarity
to see the good in you.

elsewhere remade
novel and shimmering
to the sound of the last one tearing

surrendered their wings not yet frozen
as you closed to consume
yet I looked on
somehow sure I would be spared
untouched at the corner

only a moment
to reflect on this denial
as the poison enters my heart

opposite the divide
standing at each precipice
they notice the other
close enough to touch

leaning far beyond the boundary breached
fingers meet their match a moment
before feet slip away
together and alone
they embrace
weightless
in freefall

feeling motion sickness
planted steady, holding still
wild eyes frantically chasing
spectres searching for an exit
as they crash against the walls
have I so soon forgotten
the edge spins into a blur, but
the center does not move

ready to discard this distraction
regain the mind’s eye view
with focus now, step to center
the air is clearer here
the echoes of this tired discord
fall fainter as I rise

lingering spectres
dead by their own joined hands
have spun my weakness front and center
and bled me of my will

a character, a plot device
whose relevance will pass
this story’s nothing new
a perfect portrayal
this vague wandering
mired in metaphor
point to point
to pointless

calm inside the eye
I load a trowel with fresh promises
mortar for the next course
filling gaps in my understanding

staggering for strength
these cobbles made of straw
constantly disintegrating
I am my task in perpetuity
caked with mud from head to toe, but
there are no mirrors here

would you have me flee
this debtor’s jail, the only
home I’ve ever known
should walls fall into disrepair
shallow roots against the storm
exhausted favor turns this eye
I might be swept away