Simple Subtraction

wear the creases. turn the folds.
negotiate the ugly lineage of plastic gods. 

gamble the caution. of temporary promises. 

spoil the confessions of sober skin. 

the lines that draw us. are more pencil than ink. 

ride the machine. tease the gears. 
peel the flesh from gravity's bones. 

we measure time in how little we have left. 

we define distance by how far we've come. 

we're loud. in the anatomy of our fairy tales. 

stubbornly accruing our breadcrumbs. 

but the woods are dark.

and all of our scales are defective.