Oh, how black the pavement is
In all the neighborhoods there are left to live
Glaring lapses there have passed
The windows closed to the drafts
And the vessels were snatched

Our bodies jointed and julienned in the sun
Clean shaven and pressed down to pleading pulp
Inside out now the clotheslines strum dumbly on
Strung up absences pinned up like warnings of

On a tarpaulin in the weeds
They lay me down slow and so easy
And hum your hurting days are through
Even as I’m begging still to follow