we are up on the mountain top. we are getting prepared.

I want to examine this without looking at it
can we do that please?

it is a skill I have been practicing.


this is a dialogue we have
when I dream
which just means my eyes are closed.

sometimes you make me feel
like a stick prodding a wound
in the sun
on pavement.

sometimes you make me think of rome
and the pigeons moving through the air
like a sea of so many marbles on the floor
and other things that have mass
and take up space.

I am being harsh because sometimes it makes me feel like I am breathing in cold air.

and if you go as patty hearst
I’ll go as stockholm syndrome.
and I won’t even tell them
that you used to have a 21 speed too.

because nobody rides mountain bikes anymore
everyone is getting ready for the smooth ride up ahead.
my little brother’s bike has shock absorbers.

we are out there on the streets they are repaving,
I am spinning my tires
I am stretching for my back
I am trying to remember where all the cuts
on my fingers came from.