The night smells like dryer sheets and insomnia
Shadows swamp arid streets
Wet in East Coast recollection

Remembering the relocation
Cat tail curled in my lap
Meowing at things that aren’t there
ghosts in the rearview

The new desolate scape of despondency
Horse lips grasping wisps of sagebrush
Molars grinding into grooves
Each a monument of vigor

Cowboy hats all firm and ungiving
Antonymous to the gentle brim of mine
Melting under the guise of perihelion perfection

That one day when dad visited
Finding myself contrite in a learned helplessness
Looking for a savior
Turning to the TV glow

The books binding us together
Derealization coming in waves of media consumption
I thought I imagined him there.

I turned around and couldn’t find him
Sinking heart suddenly unable to decipher fact from fiction
Cracking open my ribcage to discover the truth

But he turned the corner
True as cacti transpiring in the desert sun
And suddenly, the horses stopped grazing
And the cows stopped singing
And the cat jumped out the window

Now the smell of dryer sheet streets
In the complex with the people who shadow their blinds,
Warm light leaking out the slots,
Engulf me in a gentle cradle
Within the tenderness of a new day.