injured/hypnosis.

to display the brazen misericord-
ia she turned off the glaring sun
overhead and all-around and ended
the debate: as if all my gathered
successes or demonstrations taken

together began and continued in a
cipher, and i was gladly ruddied,
gladly ruddy to have been punched
in the face by her big inimitable
style, and she smiled.. but slow-

ing and slipping the narrative we
are somewhere entirely fearful we
chew gum and speak to one another
in epithets that--summed up--seem
to signify less than ever before;

the self is a myth sometimes, but
i like to exercise my gaze-- life
is a myth, too, but one with more
of a moral than that, like, catch
the creation: of faerie, idiotic-

al heroisms, all that stuff comb-
ined moves the lineage northwards
with a cruel window onto the old-
en word and strength, best end it
all and never speak of it again..

but here we still are! victorious
again and built from the chaos to
self-destruct: stylishly, honest-
ly unashamed, innocent & massive,
or at the very least intentional.