Glass cracks as a pastime
sun rising in the
west of the Pacific Ocean.
I sat on a park bench with bloody
palms, wishing the world would swallow
me with its insatiable appetite
for calling me out by my sins;
sins for which I’d requested
forgiveness.
I shoved myself to my feet, staggering across
an unevenly lit parking lot,
collapsing on the pavement of exacerbation.
I wake strapped to a hospital bed,
struggling with the chains.
Begging for answers in a dreary room;
The smoke detector blares;
water from spikelets sprinkled
on an unseen flame — that of my heart.
(© 2022 AC)