have big plans to meet
in the middle
and in so doing
to phase all this out
▴
I go on
say enough and it will blur
off into sound
look up and see that night
has nearly settled in and darkness
and hope that if I look into it
long enough and keep my mouth
quiet
when I look down again I’ll find
a settled word
to which nothing
is attached
▴
Re: the day
someone said
what doesn’t kill you makes it longer
▴
It’s like footsteps toward you
that sound for all the world like
they forever move away
▴
I keep forgetting I’m the smoke
not the camera
Then I see my dark
joining sky to what’s below
▴
Like watching someone
from across a river
on such a clear day
that you can see her teeth
and at such
a distance
that you can’t hear the sound
so while you know
it must be screaming
it is possible
to imagine her faraway mouth
which you can see but not save
has opened—is open—to sing
▴
After the collapse and before
the dust settles
the darkness billows
and grows
like it’s describing
itself to the sky
this it says
this and much bigger
but the sky
in its sorrow
has had to turn away
▴
to expect praise for the beautiful apology
▴
to imagine something other than again
▴
Whether it is falling
from a ship
or plane or a building
the human body starts its drop
at roughly one rate
▴
The book said legally
thought the captain
of the slave ship Zong
to throw the people overboard
instead of letting them starve
would ensure compensation
for his loss
▴
And another has made
the words to decay
until what remains
is
loss loss
▴
When I go to the video
it is paused close to darkness
the place
where I had last stopped
and as I drag the cursor backward
so it can start again
I’m reversing
into morning what was night
▴
The three buildings in the corner
begin a hypotenuse
the dark clouds
—diligent—complete
▴
The subsection of sympathy cards
labeled words fail me
on which we pen
sorry for your loss
▴
The lights that come on last—
what were they resisting?
Or do they not notice
as sometimes can happen
while the hours carry in
the new-fallen dark
▴
They say we have fallen
a long way
