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

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