be
your
full-time

be
my
all-time

Because
sometimes
da
dear
sometimes
li
whirl
some peo
ple
broken
tha
t
way

some stories
twisted
inside
themselves
gnarled
warped

a tree we used to know
outside the brick row houses
in factory towns
where lakes have waves
and creeks stretch on for mile upon mile
spreading wide over shale
and in some places shale cliff banks trickle with a strangely dense terribly orange liquid drip drop down into the sliding brown glass
full of adventure
crayfish scoot backwards, their segmented sheathy tails curved around under their tiny water-grabbing needle legs
back into the soft mud bank in the clear water that moves with imagined purpose
down to the lake

a tree I used to know
a criss-cross brown bark
a small tree with a bulby gut
running through an old wire fence
breaking the fence into outward jutting fangs,
growing around the fence
perverted
broken
growing past the fence
incorporating the broken rusted wire fence
into its
very soul

who’s fault is this?
do
n’
t
re
cal
l

what can we do?
go to the mall I guess
everybody gets $5
enough for a slice of pizza and fake-garlic/-butter twists or some terrible Chinese food or a hamburger and fries or a brown-bag-staining muffin — sky’s the limit
no limit really
soda for everyone
soda and freedom!