self-contained lately they say

they said

they keep on saying

but small talk is unflattering to the broken heart

heart     broken

doesn’t know where a conversation should begin

doesn’t know how to end one

it reminds me of your freckles that linger

like clotted constellations with slouchy spaces in which to hide

instead a glare outshines the sky

my outstretched palms wrestle

their remaining faces free of the sunlight

then suddenly a shift

a breath     a breeze     a bomb

and there’s nothing more to see

everything is a bright white light

fading quickly

like the mad sun in winter

when the cadence of the breeze changes

they say it is directionless

but it was the crows that ate it

cut it   chewed it   cannibalized it

house walls carried their caws   their wails

to my bed one night

and while supervising the darkness

I saw a murder of them

inhaling charcoal puffs

and declare its completion

in the morning

they had my senses taken away

the porch light still stirs

but consolation may never come home again

the weather says neither will you