1313

I stayed still
thinking of a place

I coughed once to
ease your mind
but my time was spent
wondering where to go

I thought
I could be Cain or Abel
but was too stiff to bend so
the show passed me by

I stayed in roses
but it was the last feint
lifeless and peeking
for the getaway driver
a robber in a cigarette

I watched you burn
the church’s tithes
in a ceramic bowl
pointing your crooked smile

I argued with the lasting
halved men intent on
keeping me tied aft and stern