AN ATTEMPT AT CLEAN SHADOWS by Daniel Bailey

I told a crying child to keep on moving
I told the stars they were full of shit
I tried to love God but it was only you
I sprayed silence at my enemies
but it was only me
I stuffed my wormhole with gauze and sound
dangled the carrot of the future
on the arrow through my forehead
I’ve done some things I’m not proud of,
I tell you as we lie in bed
nursing one another’s wounds
Tomorrow I will release all the puppies from the pound
The next day unsatisfy the passions of the past
There is told a tale of a brain so buoyant
that it resists all manner of devastation
thoughts, sharks, lightning, and love
It just floats the world soaking up
its surfaces and depths
It’s what carves a light into my light
The brain has a blowhole
It says: Be good, enjoy life
but nothing else is allowed
If you wiggle inside it you become its vapor
I keep saying there is no point
The brain in the sky drips only in the off hours
And only those with clean shadows
will strip their fingers to bone

Daniel Bailey’s work has appeared in Hobart Pulp, HAD, and New York Tyrant. He is the author of the poetry collection A Better Word for the World.

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