Wet heat

the wet heat 
& marble pillars of hotels dripping wax
& night unending
saltwater flickering laps 
on marble sand 
Dade county stinging the cuts on hand electric
& ye in the wrap
& warnings from the woman at the bus stop
& wet heat dripping 
coyote buried in men
& all the gold 
that once lined 
anothers pocket
stashed burlap sacks in the trunk
maybe enough to serve our thirst 
a few days like this.
 

the angular winding jaw 
ticking clock tick tock on pillowcase of some rented bed til sunrise
Dade county written on your eye sockets
& the bend in the reel jumps the loop on the feed 
& the spools' coming undone.

my love for you
an old thing
& this body young still
& the car burning oil like a fiend 
move about this world fugitives
no bridge left in our wake 
cut the old ties at the connection 
wicked angles guised with good intentions 
the smoky mountains engulfed
back in Cleveland just a bare room 
only smoke screen of a life
 

all bets off the table
now
they fill my chair 
before I can steady my feet
& the heat trying my patience
& affections tested 
& old friends left to wonder

god carving pumpkins
on the balcony 
only to slip out of grasp 
careening into the pavement
sporting wild grin
& the piston rod punching through the engine wall
& the car burning up on the side of some West Virginian highway in the night

&back home, 
grave robbers.

Thinking twice 
about the bed
I've made.