Negotiating Sober

we lingered in the thinning marrow of our skeletons. counting out loud. as time turned on us. all our big sticks broken. all our pretty dresses soiled. nothing left except that strangers in our head. telling us we're getting closer.

the rain fell softly. the wind swallowed the sun.

the moment gathered its rocks.preparing for the mundane wars we fight within ourselves. no soldiers. just silence.

we reveled in our nothing. gods without a staircase back to the top. telling stories in burnt teacups and broken clocks.

thieves without egress. assassins without an alibi.

we taste the angle. as the corner turns us. it's bitter and it's sharp. all the colors of touch erupting in our flesh. a cacophony of moments  all the needles. all the poison. wearing their best bow ties.

we measure ourselves in choices. plastic fists clutching gravity's heels.

the road festers. beneath our flesh. bent straws plundering our depths. .

we don't say. we couldn't even if we wanted to.

how thin the glass is between us. how slowly the cuts heal.

during. after. in between. .it's the fall that decides us