Crowded

-

CROWDED


Attending jury thickening

the very air with your bodies,

pardon me for ignoring to pardon 


myself as I shoulder through you

to take out the trash or pour 

myself a glass of water. These eyes


were drawn with a thick-tipped

Sharpie, forever bleeding closed.

Or, I suppose, it's more like running late


for life and unable to afford

the time to let the windshield thaw:

if we can see at all, it isn't much.


Of course, such a defense wouldn’t stand

in a court of law, unless—to throw

a bit of mud on the matter—


the judge were not a judge but a 

surgeon, who says he’s seen 

this type before and calls the defendant 


forward, scalpel raised like a gavel 

to close the case

and open something more. 


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