A salamander walked my way today. The news gathered quickly. Potatoes blotched out the day’s remainder. A target was I. A sancy brother. Too short for the glossing a monthly rag. Too tall of the zoo. I didn’t know what to do with it.

        I found my aspirin. Awakened in the middle of the night, I looked up at the wall, it wasn’t there. Blinded my eyes did seem for awhile — I tried to adjust. Cars outdoors pulled me away, I heard the cars going to where they had to go or wanted to go. I wanted to go with them.

        I saw the wall then, wished I hadn’t. It was blank. Big white solid. I just wanted for it to move. Bullets came down on me. My God, who’s firing? Wicked bludgeoning killing me and will I live again, fade deep. Badly injured. the bruises red and blue, colors deepening and changing, the blood saturating, broken. They rise over my body, trying not to be choosy where they fall. Corporate conjunctures wave me into the pool of my own broken blood. 

RIVER BED   16