Next to the black upright piano was a window, which looked out at the blue pansies, which were also sometimes purple, or yellow, like the word contusion.

as if we could lay ourselves down at our own feet /
to mourn, as if we could shuck skin like a snake, slide away /
naked and new, some born-again eve.

in the room / i am prescribed / anger / unemployment / broken / back / doors / hooded
/ property / value / algorithmic // blackness

maybe i wake and feel the wind move through my body
/ but she reminds me what love lives in this skin, / says stay. says stay anyways.

but when you are not visiting they amuse
one another even more
you wouldn’t believe it stranger
the things of which these women are capable

Balled below my tongue
like a seed
I won’t plant, afraid to surrender
the dream