Yesterday, a memory was being cultured in a jar
and feelings gathered around a bonfire
left and right they sing in hallways
the beer flows in rivers
lost sensibility
drawing away the years of fortitude
solemnity and grievance
dropped at the bus stop
the man holds gates open and
she smiles as a pancake summer
light drowns little words
in distance
her tricks that got your attention
voices of songs long dead that foist themselves
over anterior speculation
assumptions we had already guessed at
reserved tables nobody arrived at
the curtain closed but we already saw
the actor’s collapse
sitting by himself on the bus
riding between states of journey
between these suburbs
laws pickled and held underwater
until signs of life
are less than memory