IN PROGRESS
in an apartment on the top floor
i held myself against the cold, shivering & sick
w/out sleep or satisfactions
so the next afternoon i might nap in the treetops
while everyone else enjoyed the summer
so i might listen as their voices rose up like smoke
so i might position their words in my worlds of sleep
i put my body in the river like a rock
fully clothed & drenched w/sweat, i swam
through the earliest morning to a halfdead sunrise
i had visions of hearts that were black & ashen
of blood, so thin you might think it was vapor
i saw the short end of breath
& vipers in the eyes of a mirror
worn out, i arrived
in an apartment on the top floor
delivered & shook awake on the doorsteps of morning