burning unfinished
furniture,

i watch nocturnals
flinch by
flame-

pale and shackled
to chatter

bared in costume
company

fresh from
zoo,

keepers free to
turn away-

free to lean
in too.

unlearning, declining
expectations

of what seasonal
transitions
may

yield to the
scythe

splayed upon
table

for final family
meal

goes
undigested,

little
fondness
for who feels?

distaste bores
deep

in minefield rusty
with wheat

not ripe enough
to reap.

bending a fifth
string-

gushing sedimental
sentiment

in company of
critics

i seldom know
what not
to say,

deeply content with
incomplete-

despite fleeting need
to patch old
wrongs-

to wander where i
don’t belong.