no vacancy
(from August 2015)
early morning quakes like the big one
a familiar song resurrecting subconsciousness
flooding my bloodstream with memory
that meet up at the crossroads of dream and deny
sometimes I think we are forgotten
criss-cross days shadowing out recollection
until everything fades into syndication
rerun airings of who I once was
to you
but on days like this
you cling to the holes in my sweater
dangling precariously by a thread
weaving me back into before
late nights resurface in this break of dawn
speakers crackling as I turned up the sound
the layered static of your voice and mine
a melodic call and response of first falling
sometimes I think we remember
past the smog-filled sky that divides street signs
I see you standing on the second step
a return to sender here to say hello
in my clearer moments
I am the one to keep this distance
knocking back the wishing
reminding us both that we just went on
but once it was lucky
to stay in bed long past time to go
tangling limbs in borrowed sheets
giving in to what we knew we couldn’t keep
“The lights will draw you in,
and the dark will bring you down,
and the night will break your heart,
only if you’re lucky now.”
