I gather her head up in my sweater

and we crouch here

some dried ketchup where her lip turns down

a light crust of dirt on one eyebrow

the concrete stained and worn

surprise rain splattered in the gap

between here and the parking lot

our socks are wet

our feet itch

then her cough started

it’s going to be ok we can hide her for a minute

her damp head soaks the wool

the corners reek of urine

we do a sober trick

my body now a cradle

her hair touches my wrist

she trembles down to her cavity

                        a cough we love

the careless future emerges from it

                        shaking like a star bracelet with elastic

in this other country

the contradictory music of our tears

what do wandering souls find

                         to live in here

what warm skin

in this stairwell

the air is cold


the earth moves

one bug survives

             beyond their law


three of us hunched

      up like a heaps of wet wool

in the leaky crook of a stair

you heard about us somewhere

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