October 1

I was coming back from hell

or just heading there

it’s hard to remember,

even harder to tell

but in those early shadows of

monolithic rebar and plaster

the leaves stuck

to the windshield frost

I breathed it all in like

a suffocated kleptomaniac

fresh out on bail

I realized then

just how tired I had been

it was early and empty,

I liked it best that way

in the sepia and silence

I flinched when

someone above said to me,

“Giddy Up Partner”

when I looked up

there was a parrot staring at me

shivering from a power line.

he looked at me,

I looked at him

both of us knowing

he was fucked

and I was fine

for now