1
the chihuahua. chases his tail
spinning and spinning
ever faster, then stops
as if it slipped his mind
as if it never existed
as if not a part of him
2
no redemption no salvation
for the innocent no sins forgiven
except those perpetrated by us
3
memory tightens even as lived
the street where I lived was not
the street i lived even as I walked it
4
the details left in the burning village
the character arcs tangled in the bodies
left in the streets their chores undone
5
fifty years in my head were other
people’s lives written over mine
each revision scraped a layer clean
6
I don’t know what to say anymore
all the shades slither a dance
along the edge of the trees
a slow shuffle forward three back two
enough to circumnavigate the field
to find only this overtime
(February 19, 2025)
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