Remember the most forgettable, regrettable night? The flight or fight that drove you from doorway to road in search of wisdom in absentia? The follies you’d thought were proven, the smiles held in contempt and the tears too cool to evaporate. Well-passed-frozen in memorization that you failed to take that next breath. Claiming innocence while holding shards of glass you had cast into the fireplace after toasting. The scapegoat realm.

Never thought to stop and learn what I needed. Never knew much more than blatant lies. Flabbergasted at the mirror of the moon on the screened porch. Gone into darkness before finding the light switch. I dreamt of women who could have explained the righteous. Planted in the flower box waiting for a slice of sun. Lost before I’d begun, never knowing I could have simply won. Draping scales and heavy curtains before my eyes hoping that spiritual understanding arrived.

There but wishing you had bought another ticket, taken the next bus found that new road, leading to unknown blossoms in the sky. What does grateful entail but avoidance of the next stupid move never made? Giving in when you would have doubled down and lost it all. To brawl with shadows who were far too quit to lose a fight with the likes of devolved chimps. We negotiated neglecting to see that our partners in crime had also been bluffing.

Sometimes dreams are a bit too real. Bruises that never fade and fail to allow us to blend into the crowd as anticipated. None of it was planned, all of it was booed, none of it was anything but perfect. Into the landscape I sought to dissolve wearing an apron of bronze, a headlamp and a purple tie. Knowing all along that God would have them see and remember. All along hoping for an understudy part in the cast that was there for the purpose of being forgotten.