In the mornings I touch my face, massage lotion, think of the rough
& jaw crooked, patched cheek—I’m Oklahoma burning March 6th
cattle singed, walking out of my hooves—I’m the borrowed rifle
& the end of whinnying—sleeping one man’s form from the exit
field—it’s my instinct to put someone between the door & me
The next day, like anyone, I spend stoned—at home & then the fire
OK, the escape—my view of the street tree-blocked—I’m a single car
on the expressway expanding like dimpled skin, mostly flat, slipped
through like a nipple & a needle—my heart a big gulp in the cupholder
pig & flag—if nothing else, I thought, I would know America
I fall asleep for three years, wake up, / & take a walk around the block,
R writes—& the city turns over in its ketamine dream—like a semi
groans & rolls into a snowbank—a girl at work has cartilage replaced
around a mouth I almost find alluring—another hour pleasantly
murdered—the country disappears as I doze & drive through it