Mountains linger
like faces
of women 
about to 
be wed 
behind a
smoky haze
from the 
Canadian wildfires 
coating everything 
in a
grime known 
only to 
the dead

Oh the truth 
that bitter pill
impossible to swallow 
without gagging and 
throwing it up 
forcing it out 
bits and pieces 
and the bile
the burning man 
the hanging man 
at the mercy 
of those who’ve 
judged without understanding 
and now naked
hearing the jeers
I wait for 
salvation to come 
in the silence 
heard at end
and the peace
if lies are
fire then truth 
is the water 

I do remember 
popping you open 
like a bottle 
of freshly shaken 
fizzy water or 
wine and you 
spilling over me 
and this then 
is what I 
thought thinking that
drunk on love 
must be like 

It’s not 
the going 
through but
the other 
side that 
ever matters
the doorway 
never says 
what’s after 
just welcome 
and squeeze 
in you 
do like 
some rusty
old key
unlocking everything 
else after 

There were things 
that I purposefully 
put away and 
forgot buried deeply 
as far down
as they’d go 
some I swallowed 
others left behind 
and a few 
where I knew 
I could find 
once the ransacking 
stopped and I 
was left for 
dead and now 
like little flowers 
that I notice 
they are sprouting 
funny little things 
love like that 
never ever forgets 
where you are