Under the Dirt

the distance lurches into focus. a redolent affliction. heavy with its laboring scars. all her butterflies wingless. all her fevers spent. on fickle diseases of the heart.

the roots wander. the choices are breathless.

every moment stutters. the awkward science of conceit. it'll never be this close again.

the apple rots. the temptation weakens. it changes. in all the worst ways. it forgets. the cruel amnesia of touch. wears our bodies like crutches.

fractions of skin. jumping rope. collecting emptiness. bits of treasure in the lies we tell ourselves.

fingers shouting. voices mute. counting the growing piles of stone. all the mazes of how intersecting.

shallow fractures pierce the flesh. the brightness of the pain is a welcome distraction.

the continuity blisters. the memory fills with puss.

time's dull blade tears rather than cuts.