push the wilderness down,
the thick evergreens, let them rot
like discarded christmas trees rot
in landfills.
cast off joy,
discarded like merry gift wrapping paper,
let go. and the cities push out,
they exert terrible pressure.
put on your shoes,
climb down into the tubes
that pull you across
and under everything.
swallow the animal,
let him out later,
when appropriate.
file him carefully.
keep your shoes on
and your tie straight. cinch
it in if you feel him try to escape.
block that air hole.
say anything, chew quietly
to disguise the sound
of your mouth and tongue.
conceal your needs.
dissemble them, reorient.
go to the store and trade food for nothing
for the paper in your soft hands,
dead men's faces.

more radio, more radiator hum.
it rains in the night,
turns the newspaper into useless sludge.
no new news, these stars are already dead.
next year, we'll
count streetlights instead
invent more false ways
cheat more darknesses.
fetus in a bottle in a museum.
tumor removal, tissue edit, artificial insemination.
trot out your younger face,
trick pony of the maturing nightlife.
we're just bodies
bleeding on the formica, on the sand.
disinfecting everything,
suppressing inconvenient noise.
this wail goes in the pillow,
this sneeze under the floorboards.
when the doors open we exit the cars
and move senselessly over the earth.