looking both ways

the quick-dry coats the floorboards 

and some likewise biped fills the 

crop-circle left by my spot-lamp

a receipt for the transaction of my youth is voided at returns 

beneath the pillow i flattened

with dreams imagined 

for a scream and some sympathy

is another creature’s molar 

Somewhere else,

i start smiling at babies 

without an ounce of curiosity 

Somewhere else, 

i bathe in the divine pleasure of hoovering up a toenail 

in the divine pleasure of 

letting the winter in 

i bathe standing up 

i bathe guiltily 

i bathe less and less

and in forbidden hours 

i see the tooth fairy

( the toenail was 

too large to have

been hers )

we chase time in a wax-light vigil 

i lose and

i look forward

to good dreams

to coffee 

to bathing 

to finding out