inhaled raze he smiles like a nervous child, doing all he can to cause harm without inflicting pain. soft bud of a silent bet he's made. my suitcase is too cramped to cradle all the clothes i couldn't carry without risking injury or embarrassment. a bag of cotton_balls bruises a bed i haven't slept in since the only hair that graced my face was too fine to find with mammalian eyes. a woman i've known all my life scrubs her skin to expel the scent of camphor and eucalyptus oil. a gift from her mother in michigan. ointment impregnated with menthol meant to clear her sinuses. she holds out a morsel of the mess for me to breathe_in. it smells like every fevered supplication of my childhood, unanswered and half-forgotten in the harsh light of now. 251104 what's it to you? who go blather from