Tepid Fires

 narrow angles wear our choices. skin folds. the stale vanity of broken men.

the lies build their trembling houses. and we paint their walls in vinegar and smiles. 

the tortoise is lost. discarded by the race. the hare is dead. 

tell tomorrow to stop counting.

the world is crippled. the sky has fallen. 

turn the ignition on these bodies. choke on the exhaust. 

time places its bets. on the lonely and the arrogant. 

the boy cries wolf. fractured machines swallow the remains of the sun. 

the distance chafes against our progress. 

the miles undress. shivering advocates of happily ever after.