As the sky fades,
Remembering a sun
Lost to time,
We're drawn in darkness
To that place
Where our heartbeats
Form one rhythm-
The only thing left
In the vast expanse
Of nothingness
Stretching
From what used to be
Horizon
Onwards to infinity

Every moment
Tattoos a web
Of ink
In the deepest
Seas of my mind
Floating like oil
And only in sleep
Can I dive
And swim
Edit
And undo
Until
Waking up
I'm once again
Just on the shore
Looking out,
The Great Pacific
Garbage Patch
On my eyes,
Helpless
To do anything
But keep walking,
Crossing countless grains
Of sand
Serving to keep my body
On the Earth
And imagining itself
Out in the sea
Sinking-
Pulled
By the weight of the ink
The past
The trash

We once spoke,
A long time ago,
In wordless poetry;
Every glance
A stanza
And every movement
A line.

You'd trace
Three freckles
On my neck
Making a constellation
As from your mouth
Came whispered visions
Of forever.

You asked me today
In a poem of words
If I'm happy now

From a needle,
As from a fountain pen,
Pours ink
Into my skin

A promise of
Eternity sealed
And very few
Will ever know

(I wonder why
Those I love
Are those to whom
I only lie)

Driving through the darkness
The Wendy's bag
On the side of the road
Can start to look
A bit like roadkill-
Which it is
In a way,
Because no matter
How many broken people
I cram into the front
Seat of my car
And no matter
How many cigarettes
They've all been smoking
The blindness
And the landfills
Which push the rich
Further North of the city
Will continue to push

Born within my skin
Is a swamp white oak
Stretching its branches
Through the grey matter
In my mind
Over-taking, over-whelming
Each leaf becomes a cell
A part of me
In a most central way
And me a part of my species
A tiny acorn
In the context of its whole
Laid by an impossible
Evolution of trees
To people

The lights are off,
The fans aren't spinning
And even when the sun
Is shining through the windows
I still look at the digital clock
To check the time