Awake

cries caught in forever

just beyond the gate

tormented ass’ bray

like Death gasping

a yawping howl

/

it was here

coal ash and smoke

a shadow against the built-in

choking the room

stacking dimensions on my chest

/

candlelight extinguished edges

here

but not elsewhere

its knowing remains

bridging boundaries

/

Nature held its breath

limbs tingled without response

awake to paralysis

I’m trapped between moments

terminal silence

atoms frozen in time

/

we walk opaque roads

between wake

and sleep

fiction and reality

it tells me I know things