From “Stretching Time Over the Sky”

‘You have one minute—’

Rumor has it there is a small space

between the lungs & the heart

where two rivers pour from the sky

& into the body’s ocean. // [wavecrashes/backbackforthforthmotion]

Rumor has it I’ve been heavy out here

on this yard & still have my mouth

open for the rain & I peeped

you followed me months before rumors made me ghost.

Rumor has it you conjured clouds

& brought the lightning on all the nights

I lay without rest—quiet storms

for this savage life.

Look, these walls taught me to be thorough:

There are two sides to every currency

There are secrets to keep & secrets we fit inside

so I palm the universe so still still still

in both hands & speak here

in tongues when you come come

around. Long as I’m a city, you’ll always have a place to sit

a wall to lean on & get your fiend on.

‘Thank you for using—’

ii. just [like] know if i had it my way

This ain’t that customer service, ‘How are you today, miss?’

that ‘Excuse me, can I steal a moment?’ This that thick layer

over rugged noise; that Timbs on the soaked

cement in the wintertime, snow melting & dripping

off the suede; that immigrant blood in my muddy

veins, eat every grain of rice & lick clean the plate

& still still still labor in three tongues

for the next meal; that pushups in the cell

playing D’Angelo—how does it feel? This—fuck that

bring the bass in low & let me untangle every knot slow.

[honey&warmth in the wintertime—UUGGHH]

& when I ask what’s good?

that means something different to me.