the noon office

[[ how days pass ]]

It's not so awful,
this office glass,
these window shades,
each slice of light
across my face.

At noon with tea
I look across:
another building,
another looking glass
ten stories high,
half an hour long,
thirty minutes,
one thousand
eight hundred
seconds, to stand
at this window
to settle my mind.

We learn to catch
it in the glass:
A cloud, a cloud,
a cloud, a cloud,
another cloud.
A cloud, a cloud,
a cloud,
the track of sun.
And day is done.

At night I am
a tattooed cannibal.
At night I am
engraved.
At night I am
the pinpoint voice
between my ears.

And then we are
a binary star.

boy on the beach

[[ from a picture we have all seen -- Alan Kurdi ]]

A boy on the beach
in the waves on the beach
in the sand on the beach
unafraid of the sea

You're not afraid of the open sea
You're not afraid of the rolling boat
You're not afraid of the open sea
You're not afraid of the rolling boat
You're not afraid of the deep deep water
You're not afraid of afraid anymore

You're Mama's brave boy
You're Baba's brave boy
You're not afraid of
anything anymore

now where were we?

[[ it's a sort of country music love song gone wrong -- or a couple of heroin addicts ]]

there's nothing pretty
about getting old
you turn down the heat
but I'm always cold

I count my pills out
you jab your skin
we're good for a day
the state that we're in

but isn't it all so much prettier than turning blue?

All our clouds
blow away
we turn silver
against the day
against that day

look at these photos
how old were we then?
how old are we now?
how old will we ever be?

dust off that mirror
is that you and me?
never saw this coming
how old will we ever be?

we were so skinny
when you came to stay
do you remember anything
before yesterday?

do you remember
when we walked the earth?
we had nothing but sky
and the sky was enough

now I count my pills out
you jab your skin
we're good for a day
the state that we're in

but  isn't it all so much prettier than turning blue?


||: turn up the heat :||