Negotiating the End

expectation moves through us in a series of shallow cuts. 

we feel each other with cold fingers pressed against the glass. orphans clenching our tattered maps. magicians shouting at our empty top hats. 

i lied and said i knew why it was so dark. 

we wear each other in the frigid antiseptic of touch. and all the soiled bandages that accumulate to stop the blood. 

dull needles in scarred veins. grief  desperate for an exit. 

we see each other through the narrow of our cages. animals on loan to the slaughter. 

i lied and said i could open the lock. 

tomorrow spent us. in borrowed skins and wasted chances. 

the truth turned sour. the light was on. i could see clearly. what flesh had forgotten.