Countless nights I have bailed
myself out the next day. Kinds
of lucky escapes. I have fucked
up under the guise of drunk, a
costume I knew I could wear.
I am ashamed of the monster
who wandered gardens of
knowing not to tread where
he did not belong, venturing
deeper into woods to pick
mushrooms– knowing one of
these times he wouldn’t return.

(originally published in Time of Singing, Spring 2020)

at the dawn of new
love the redness of sand

but the enormity of
my past crash-landed
into the current

after losing sight
of an early oasis

I’m adjusting
to your alien
environment

a mast
can anchor
to lust buried

in the desert
to disappear

except you
reemerge

endlessly
in thought
and linger

a ship
that surfaces
to haunt

(originally published in EAP, Spring 2020)

wasted time the sloppy in and out
of direction from new strangers

begging for moans in the silence
of wind between the space of passing

cars and hours spent before this shield
from the bright yet lonely light

(originally published in Erothanatos, Spring 2020)