In Warm Blood

The cigarette bounces in my trembling hand
And the city stays still below
The third floor deck I’m grasping
With the free one

It’s one of those perfect cloudy days
That gets its perfection from those clouds
Thick and ashen and neverending and beautiful

And we go back together

To a moment before
One of those horrible ones that make you
Sad with the way things happen and
Angry at the way things have to be

A warm squirrel is hugging cold pavement
Slowly inching its way in no particular direction
Half his body victim to a remorseless front right tire

Praying for any other than this exact moment of his life

Misery may love company
But when company’s not an option
Misery panics
Misery wants a way out

Bike skids to a stop
Backpack drops
Girl watches scene unfold

Now misery loves release

Helplessness overpowers me
Overpowers her
Overpowers him
Overpowers us

No cars to flag down for our dirty work
No police to call
No parents to make everything alright

It's just us here

A blue shoe raises
The air parts
A leg muscle holds steady
And releases

Then again
And once more
And the puddle grows

And it lives still

Girl's car is the last option
And my heart heaves
When another tire finishes
What the first didn’t have the guts to do

You want a cigarette, girl commands
And doesn’t ask
As she reaches into a gold purse

I don’t smoke

Only when the beers allow it
Or when the jangled nerves allow it
Or when the innocent squirrels allow it
So yes

Back on the deck
A nicotine-riddled mind reflects on
The only thing in the world worse than death

And sometimes killing is the only moral thing to do.

dubs. out.