Rust

My shirt sleeve turns russet like apple

Apple

Green and red

Red

A world

To bite

Lick and chew

I am lost in the smoke

Drowned in the hours

Changed

But not

more stuck and sticky than what they say is stuck and sticky there is freedom in the mud like clots like paint on myself on my arm slipping off my face in the water on the bridge on the bench painted white cross red cross russet cross shirt sleeve hanging wet in the wind on a hanger by the window not seen so tired so empty but weighted down drowning stuck

Feet swollen

Head out of line

All out of line

The prayer written and left by her feet means nothing

Black lines in the dark

Water disappeared dry and dust

Rust in the stoup

I hold the glass in my hand like a talisman

All I have lost

All I wait to be again

I miss myself

I miss myself

All she has lost

All she waits to be again

I hold the glass like a talisman

I will be

I will be

But not.