LXVII.

like a tendon i could stretch
p e r i p h e r y
to catch more of this at my side
you and the fields and the rain

maybe i am losing my hearing
my sense of direction
maybe i can't smell coffee on the corner
but let these cones soak light
soak you in the gray in the passenger seat

depth ripping into my deaf ears
through my bones on the wheel
strings a blinking web around us
flashing findings from the past
like you retracing the days
the color of the bridge and the night lake
petrichor
moving to a strange new place
senior year anthems
like you can tell songs from 2009 by the tone

don't need that old jeep
if we have this
if we have wide dark hours walking the mall
white streetlamp glow over the hatch of my car
laughing harder than i ever will
crying hidden like i never do
even when i'm away from you
even when you're leaving in a year and it's real as i take my vitamins every morning it's so real i can't feel
even then
there are only tears when i watch you starve
tucked away as we do another round
tucked away in the dark in the sleeping rows of shops

friends.
all hail this human life --