deadpan
serious
you believe me
but I’m joking

another beginning
tonight, I start
and continue

uncertainty is perhaps the cruelest curse
it plagues the mind
spurring further indecision
creeping over every crevice
‘what if?’ it whispers
‘what if?’ it says
‘what if?’ it screams
until the victim is paralyzed

exhaustion and sore muscles
the front wheel traipses the line
suddenly the handles turn
down it goes like paper floating
many moments to put out a leg
instead entanglement, carnage
a skinned knee, aching palms
and a curiously injured pinkie

all muscles relaxed
but still the tenseness
nothing less than rage
not hateful, not violent
irritable rage colors every thought
a naturally harsh tongue
drips with unnatural venom
desperately suck it in
but some of it sprays,
an unlikely cocktail
of prednisone, jet lag and stress

a dull ache all day
making me irritable
I was rude
even though
I desperately tried not to be

sleeping during the day
can’t find another way
no time to play
what can I say
it’s not usually okay
but it is just for today

little cities persist in glass terrariums
claiming a closed system
but that is false
the input is the sun
the output is entropy
they cannot exist entirely alone
but they do not think
of those outside
who toil to make the sun

find those gray arches
pass underneath
and become magic
transform into you
crunch orange leaves
in your hands
feel powerful
lift off the ground
letting your shoes
scrape the ground
lean on laundry wires
and knock everything down
drink a foggy potion
it sparkles in your throat
electrifying your body
vigor for people
saying yes to different
jump the fence
scream at the cold
turn it to laughter
finish by falling asleep
on a lumpy couch
that’s not yours
but maybe it could be
for another adventure