in october i cross the street more carefully because
fall lingers
last night’s popcorn dust and cheap glitter remain in the rug
refusing to participate in summer’s prismatic operation
to refract detritus off knotted nylon tufts or
out of my mind
the sound of the broken vacuum echoes permanently between
my bed and my roommate’s bed and the window and
the tree outside the window where the squirrel settled
on the first day of october and i would guess it echoes in
the squirrel, too
who shows no hint of recognition when i leave the bedroom and
walk underneath its reddening residence outside of my window but
perhaps fall lingers so that i cannot
so that i cross the street without making a home on either side and
use the broken vacuum over and over again
and repeatedly step around the residue in my rug in
the same way that i avoid the cars on the street
outside of my window
because in the fall every consequence lingers so
i look both ways
in october i cross the street more carefully because
fall lingers
last night’s popcorn dust and cheap glitter remain in the rug
refusing to participate in summer’s prismatic operation
to refract detritus off knotted nylon tufts or
out of my mind
the sound of the broken vacuum echoes permanently between
my bed and my roommate’s bed and the window and
the tree outside the window where the squirrel settled
on the first day of october and i would guess it echoes in
the squirrel, too
who shows no hint of recognition when i leave the bedroom and
walk underneath its reddening residence outside of my window but
perhaps fall lingers so that i cannot
so that i cross the street without making a home on either side and
use the broken vacuum over and over again
and repeatedly step around the residue in my rug in
the same way that i avoid the cars on the street
outside of my window
because in the fall every consequence lingers so
i look both ways
