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