ARRvol34 master reduced - Flipbook - Page 119
He cracked his hands into fists,
The levers creaking against some strain,
Unclenched them like he was strangling.
The ship, that misplaced murmur,
turns into a lie,
a peaceful promise stringing smoke from falling –
from falling stars.
Light – from every angle – tangles with unknowable music,
Music so refined it sounds like – like water brushing steel,
Or wrapping itself in itself forever,
in silence.
He smoked through clicking teeth,
Angry the way children can get.
I asked him,
“Why did you leave”
After a while, you learn to shut up,
not to ask
Questions that don’t mean anything. The sea
Doesn’t answer. A drunk shouldn’t either.
Drink, if you’re drinking,
or leave.
He blinked like he was fighting tears,
But his tongue ran like a blade
Across his lips to slash the last drop
Of liquid.
I bought the next round.
The cities –
the derricks burn at night. They burn,
Just on the horizon,
standing there, burning,
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