1.
finding new ways to say no

to another leap into the known
*
leaves & shreds of plastic bag

blown, uplifted, like offerings
*
what’s worth saving?

this
*
but
(without an inkling?)

succumbing to ______ again
*
counting fallen fruits, spoils,

counting up the mud







2.
‘the house always wins’

(‘isn’t that why we haunt it?’)
*
mall steeped in cuteness: tones

of ice cream outlet, donut outlet
& atrium’s sparkle: heart-shape balloons,

cartoon bunny’s thumbs-up grin
*
brush it off,

overfriendliness that smacks

of commerce
*
‘I’ve paid for what I’ve earnt,’

sayeth the worker
*
brush it off?

‘… saw starved attack dogs

grinning like tabloids’
*
pay for someone to listen,

pay for no one to listen
*
(the sky closing in)







3.
‘another reckoning

deftly postponed’
*
private bubble of politeness

maintaining perfect homeostasis
*
(‘close your eyes, relax the shoulders;

picture nothing of note happening

for one hundred thousand years’)