Almost There

The sky
bends to drape the pearl
ink of yet another
lost summer
                              & it’s not just the angle of the sunlight
but the dusty feeling in your heart

rusted-out pieces of metal
twisted into seashapes
dragging along a 12-ton abstract longing

the abandoned porticoes of retrospect

ashes & palm trees

peroxide tar-pit mouthwash
for those too wasted to do anything but
survive