the younger nick

or (above the tree line)

then there were the desperate

troubled teen years in charlotte

h'd buy a small metal bonjolaili

and drive it down the coastal highway

smoke hashish and tape pictures

of gloria swanson to his marlboro's

a man of many words, then

just a wishbone of adjectives and

unnecessary analgesics h'd

dated a hairdresser for about a week

bought a skyranger

made up stories about bear

white bear. yellow bear. you name it

h's california cuddliness falling

away leaving a dark k emboldened on

h's upper arm. a collapse of melanin

then there was the way all light died

anywhere near what was left of k's eyes

h dreamed of k's salivary glands

a wine forest rich in red mucin

they married under a pomegranate sky

her womb would remain barren. they

adopted dwarves and moved north h's auburn

beard turning a deep white, k's pungent freckled skin

becoming ferule. she had an affair

with a co-worker years later. it was a nightmare

radio waves couldn't reach the house

there in the silence. a blanket of nouns

h's red suit. a streak of blood across the sky

above the roofs of children's ginger minds