kneel raze a man i've never met watches me through my open bedroom door. there isn't much to see. i'm sitting on my bed. nothing in my head but heat and a wet wound that's slow to heal. he has me stand behind him at the top of the stairs. his back to my chest. my waist to his wings. he drapes my arms around his trunk so i'm holding him. but he's really the one who's holding me. he carries me until we're outside. just_like_a_baby. he sets me down. says something in a language i don't speak and can't place. a poem. or a prayer. i don't know which. after he's left me, i walk until i find a mouse with its forelimbs half frozen from being kissed by the cold lips of this boundless winter. i bring it home. set the small soul down on the kitchen counter. look for a cage to keep it in. the mouse morphs into a ladybug and flies away. and i swear i can feel it. luck leaking out of my life as it turns a darker shade of dismal. i fall to my knees and hear the crunch of cartilage on cork dust. this is how i know i'm not asleep. 260324 what's it to you? who go blather from