three

trying on different winter
                              coats / you put on a black cape and pull hood over top
hat / she buttons sailor anchors
                                              together you prance in front of mirror as customers
                                              who pronounce unaffordable warmth
                                                          a luxury her eyes shed clouds on
concrete sidewalk
                     blocks she holds your gaze indeterminate pupil /

she’s petrified by the mesa’s space
                                   builds her home from bent nails & boat wood
in the desert and her son soaks every
                              inch of expanse / you ask if
                                                             it’s because he has never known a horizon
                                                             less sky / she is off her meds
                                            because she needs to paint
                                                                                you see the list
scan breast for toxicity / you
                                        pull into a crowded
flee market everyone wants in on the fair
                                                    it borders / you
have a ticket
are allowed entrance
                              but first must check deposit balance
wait in a bank without operators
                                                for assistance


the cloakyoutryon disfigures the oddity you try to stand out with. for her itisthe
opposite. nomatter how conservativeablazer she’ll never blendinto mirror. wealth
doesnot necessitate ateller to access but you are caught in thewait weight of
withdraw. youdonot need medication to make art you need medication tobeableto
function in town. tofunction out on the mesa. or is it that you needmedication tomake
artandart to befunctional. or you need artto medicate so that youmightfunction in
structure absently present. oryouneed medicine to keepyou from art. never nerve.
you can’t getinon the other without purchase or theproof of invisiblenumbers in
account. nerve never. her sonsaved her lamps of sewn paper and painted discarded
sign boards. you gaveup your child for hope.