Dilation

faces like tunnels. eyes like graves.

walk with me. next to nothing. lend me your truth. just for the night. let me learn. how empty the world is.

trust the flame. its purpose does not waiver. it must consume.

color me in. i am an outline. hungry for dimension. in a world with so little of it.

scales in the dark. weigh what cannot be seen. little pigs in their houses. whores to the wolf. spend their flesh in pennies. though there are dollars to be had.

time folds to surrender. ladders reach the window. by drunken stabs. the curtain finds her. poised to the cadavers. eyes in the moon. watch the world. end.

i ask her. where she's going. she says nowhere. i follow her. on her lonely path. needles and thread. like dull pencils. faking pictures. making seams where nothing is connected.

i take her. as she is. flesh in crutches. broken bones beneath it. the poise of obstinance. As it rages against. humbles origins. i take her. in cuts of color. ripe with bile. every hour is throw up. every minute after victory.

the radius. the conundrum. of circles and decision. the powerless man. confined to his pause. if it was always this quiet. its only now that i hear it.