23 august          3:15          macdougal street, manhattan

the din of near misses
my feet my eyes the burn
on the back of a wrist, intersections

slow to wake
slow to sever too finite
in memory's maw, back
of the neck, of the book
soreness in slough & mistakes
in financial conversation
(not conversion)

would sing you a song

legal tender rivulets heartless
concerned arbitrarily with cats
dimes & throats, metal
on metal metallic endemic
direction in context

would "think about it"

narrowly missing a name for that
color flamboyantly strawberries
raspberrying their maudlin wings
ungently seared
& one fat mourning dove.