Outcomes birthed from incomes, and the escapist wants nothing more than to get somewhere really real

Sick as a dog,

sheets damp and clammy from

the shiver sweats

and it seems possible

the night has itself began

to elongate

and shape shift.

---

Morning chock with tasks and

early worms getting birded isn’t enough

to shake free from impudent sickness

which isn’t waiting for me to traverse

the eleven steps into the soft hazy noon of the bathroom

But comes up as soon as feet hit floor

---

Dab dab don’t rub the slick sheen

Leftover of what has been wrought from a meal it seems ages ago having eaten

---

And hours or days later

still comes the sweats and shivers,

an unnursed body married to flayed ego

like soutine’s meat hanging on abased display,

but with no flaneur passing by the window or

sauntering through the white box gallery

to take me in and feed me

to my own lonesome company

---

Alone and unwell,

candle burning to compete with

the smell of the stain

that has effloresced

into the carpet’s fibers,

not so faint

that it can’t yet be glimpsed,

waiting for yet more morning and

what might pass for respite

from this sharp shriek of a night

which might have more flaws and

more fissures in store

but it’s hard to fathom how