How can I spur you to nudge your mind
away from the brink, what festers in your deep,
the getting even, the dark refusal,
your brittle archive of human failings,
your scream of consciousness—Look,
see that dippers candy cake when you reinvented
sweetest of sweet, the Birkenstock sandal imprints
from your dear uneven feet like hand prints
in a French cave— Look, please
please don’t be a sad carnival of subversion inversion
instead be warm ramen, tender body of poached egg
spiced with just enough smoked paprika to welcome
the next morning, dragonfly lighting on your elbow
to imagine another kind of otherwise.
