20.
the seasonal temporary heat
interrupted by the pounding rhythms
of approaching boots
21.
a manufactured state of emergency
the screams of children on burning playgrounds
22.
today, today play with the fire
light the burners long abandoned
in soul boilers
[ 9 /22 / 25 – first day of Fall]
the renovations continue on their own schedule
sitting on the back porch, listening to rain
light dappled by an increasingly distant sun
salvation is a blanket of fallen leaves
and sleep after another summer
Dante would have left out of the final draft
Somewhere in the end-of-season sale landscape
history starves for lack of awareness
living on liquid sugar and fruit- flavored gummy snacks.
There is nothing to believe anymore
outside of memeworld proclamations.
We must be self-styled archeologists
finding earthenware hand-thrown truth
buried under a casino construction site
finding solace in our work, making the mind forget
as the dying kids of summer find an abandoned swimming pool
for reel swan dives while their parents, trying
not to give into wet dreams of their last cigarette
doomscroll through how-to videos of shit
their grandparents tried to teach them.
