night came and my voice broke. snapped
shattered
ceased to hold at the
center, a limp-wrist for a
vocal cord tied around itself
so words cling to cheeks tight-loose as babies' fingers to the original pink. quick, recede, return up the canal, the floor has been eaten by the mouth and the mouth is lava. hack up questions chewed-out, excavated by
fat front teeth and the gentle hand of doubt
pressing a switch blade to my tongue, a
cousin of muscle, sister of taste
who burns and spurts when out of use
piss yellow light, the stripe of a bumblebee shaven and concentrated under a magnifying glass
buzzes louder than i do
even with all the extra energy
pooling at my feet. second to ankles, i carry the most weight above and around my collarbone
farthest from the basket woven through ribcage
which reaches for and latches on to stutter and silence like handlebars on bicycles
mothers on kids
a false bullet on safety
in the event of fallow
in the absence of the apple
a tree sticks its head out from the barren place
