We sing potions
Squad car elixirs
High pitches warbled in the night
Like the long-throated shrivel-backed fortune sparrow
Bringing news of broken branches
On bended knee-jerk reactions
Being sent the wrong way for spring
We cut clever parables
Into our cocaine
Because loving is easy
Once
Maybe twice
Maybe for three days straight
Then it gets laced up
Bandaged
Chemically managed
But we still put a flag in it
A mud pie
Full of short syllabic answers
We wish each other well
Devouring each other's precious time
In a selfless way
Full of port and portend
Drunk in gratitude
Saturated with intent
For in long winters
We will wish we had cards to burn
Stepping over the lesser known meanings
We replace our original concern
With clever tokens
While the ellipses clock 1,000 miles per hour
Continental divides star gazing
Trees reverberating night
Mollusks, having long perfected chitinous ribbon dancing, now refining the cloak
At a snail's pace
We hide robbers
And cop to pleas
But only when we have to
The rest of time sharing stories of passage
No detail too small to get lost
Down the gullet of a sword swallower
Or in the putrid bank of a mangrove forest
Those origin whispers
More like bandito masks
With spotted horses
Soft one way, rough the other
We balance on beams
The inner and outer realms
Known only as mythos
Costume changes
From a chest of toys
Harboring the element of play
But also forgotten truths
That we tie in knots behind our heads
So we can join in for a second
Or third or always
We brave distraction
Because being present is a drag
It keeps us stabilized
So we don't fall in too deep
Even though all the time we are there --
Because our sleeveless hearts
Are all torso and funny looking
Bopping around like a child's trinket
We stop dancing
Not because the music is over
But because we are tired
And why wouldn't we be?
We make boots and containers for our onions and covers for our air conditioning units
We play scrabble
We dust off records
Make coffee
Keep going
In cursive
Because it's easier that way;
We can smile face dance
Drink aperitifs
Send postcards;
When we stop dancing
It's just another beat
That one: the downbeat
But those get more important
So we tell the kids
When play time is over
And sparrows return to perch
Red in face
Because brick
Because fall
Because warm nest
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