Maggots in my shoes
Put them on no matter what
Business interview

Don’t recall, poised in empty halls,
Patterned and installed, understated, undissolved
Cleaned up the floor, clean to keep unused
Close the bedroom door, close to coming loose, and what’s the use?
Not sure what to do, the flu shot gave us the flu

We heard that it was buried in the yard just past the reddest leaves,
And left carried on the breeze, resigned to dig a hole
Consistent with the angles we were told
And we felt it warming up, pushed the earth beneath our feet
Aberrant sound against the anomaly, we gathered close,
And like we’d always seen, brushed off the dust and the dirt,
As the covering recedes, a gentle glow lit our faces light, but only from beneath

Like flashlights, and bed sheets, and ghost stories

Knowing that we stayed up too late,
Revel in hanging on every word
Comforted, no matter how many times, it’s still a surprise
The kind of things we could repeat
The kind of things we could believe
The kind of things we teased, but left alone, we couldn’t sleep

Do you cover your mouth to breathe?
Do you ask for anything?
You close your eyes so all you see, the negative

They used to walk right across the Bering Sea on foot
Can you still believe that if you dug a hole straight down and still beyond
The mantle, through and through the asthenosphere,
You’d get to China? But they’re not, nor have they ever been, our antipodes
And just like me, not even halfway through before you lost your light
(and inevitably freeze)

If it’s just down the street, if you promise to be careful
But it’s just down the street, but it’s just down the street

Curtains quickly drawn and hoped no one saw
Resigning to covering your ears
So all you hear is the sound of your own blood
Running downhill to earn your gravity
Ignoring stride to feel free of form

And there had to be a secret underneath, that even though the surface gleamed,
As the sole to the feet, or the tongue to the teeth,
What you thought was a flower enamored of its bees, you came to see
The mechanics disagree
Found success to pry without marring all the sides
There was no beautiful design, just elaborate mistakes barely held in place
Some off, disfigured view you wish you never knew