clean breaks don't exist
jagged edges and tear-smudged faces mar the
satin rims of fare thee wells and civil endings
fragments of safety terrorize for
disappearances can be so deceiving
memory erupts, flowing through
ill-prepared corners of the mind
delving into the pain and digging out old sorrows
battle-torn babies fight onward
yet the sword cleaves only air
and the fist finds no safe harbor here
going in circles
wounds are not healed by orbits
how could I savor the taste of time's arrow
and still breathe life into incarnations
sow the battleground with yesterday's demons?
peace tantalizes, dances at the edge of maybe
yet I am doomed to rub shoulders with old foes
making small talk, clinking glasses,
playing host to uninvited guests
who refuse to go away.