retreat
from a haze
from life's reach

up & out

what breaths
below?

sightlines
trace pocked
horizons

for enough
articulate pain
to put in

these poems

i wake as
a pillow

midbook

but stay
behind
eyelids

& feel him
absentmin-
dedly

tangle my
fingers in
his beard

bite down on
steel fingers
fishhooked
in my cheek

sweat scales
on a writhing
white underbelly

caught fast &
a taut line pulls
me through wave
after wave after

wave after
relentless
crashing wave

get ready
for work like

which
new hot
summer
shade
goes best
with my

endless
internal
scream

my existence
is theoretical

your relevant
hypotheses

can only be
tried between
6 pm & 9 am

in a bedroom
that is & is not