The dimpled back of the banshee that haunts your hollows,
as inescapable as the back of your eyelids.
The acid in your veins, the same pH as the bile you spent your youth spewing onto unsuspecting plants. Poor things.
Pouring whatever you can down gullets, gutters, toilets -
fancying yourself released of the fiend that had been keening deep inside your bowel.
Romanticizing the expectorant as some kind of exorcist, ridding yourself of the demon you spent the entirety of your childhood feeding.

At some point you will have ridden all the rides.
Sampled all the options.
Tasted every entrée.

Your life, an archive of reviews
compiled into a guide
that led you nowhere.

Dragged nails across thin snow, clawing for dirt,
leaving trails like staff lines.
Dead leaves landing like notes;
A song of anguish.

Steeled with treated temperament.
Prepped by tempered expectation.

Danger of the arranged meeting with unknown entities.
The sting of a stranger.
Venom of anonymity.

A crash course in coercion;
The fall of Rome.
Murphy's law.
Devastation.

Dull but insistent.
A ringing phone in the pocket of abandoned pants.
An unbidden question.
Thin branch tapping against the bedroom window.

Are you getting out of bed today?

Don't answer that.

Shoved in the corner.
Buried under a mountain of clothing.
A chair that hasn't been sat on in weeks.

Do you even care?

Hunger unfed.
Curtains pulled to hide the sun;
Shiny happy people holding hands.

Where are your friends? You do have friends, right?

Don't answer that.

Come all ye married, all seasoned and old.
Come all you fearless, you young and too bold.
Come all your summers and winters and falls.
Come all who've no clue and those who know all.

Come along now, let's go.
Yes, you come too.
We've got assignments, and so much to do.

Come all you old haunts and come all you new.
Come all you Christians and heathens and Jews.
Come all your falsehoods and half-lies and truths.

Everyone's waiting, there's space for you.
Scrape up your courage and lather in glue.
Roll around the table, we'll eat what sticks.

Come all you ******* and come all you *****.
Kick off your trappings and get down with this.
Cinnamon scented candles and ****.
Nutmeg caramel melted down to the wick.

A year's worth of longing come to an end.

Can't have a party without ******' ****.