Jim Morrison’s only friend—
the sign beneath the snowflake
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀(road sign),
An old Western law,
A cat neither touching nor burying
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀his food,
Lawrence’s little ship,
The sound my lips make,
An apple lodged inside a cockroach
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀(for good),
A spoiled kid’s candy,
Young shoots on a freshly fallen tree
⠀⠀⠀⠀on your path,
Shielding her ears,
A bird staring at the open door
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀from a cage,
The darkening of a father’s skin,
A space after a dash which follows a year,
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀in a ‘70s book,
The frisson you get before leaving
⠀⠀⠀the stage,
A tide on Goa, meeting your friend.
The words we sip from an empty jar,
next to a fireplace and a rusty axe.
“But, generally speaking,”
as my teacher once said,
“When it’s all over,
we’re screwed.”
2020