shatter tender_square slipping from my fingers under stream, porcelain cracked into three pieces against the metal basin. the design: a sharded peace sign. the lower portion a mere sliver of the plate’s patterned lip; the other halves broke equal—a pair of white lungs full with anticipated breath. 211019 ... tender_square my reflection in the hotel’s stainless steel desk lamp turned metal fun-house mirror, curved liquid mercury miniature of chicago’s bean, the real one less than two miles from where my head lay tonight, seven stories down to street. the lamp was bulb-less and i couldn’t write, although he gives off enough watts to illuminate the expansive country of his whole heart. we hold hands through ethernet, fingers clasp a twin globe, run riveted along unbroken spiral thread, heavy with paperweight cap. the dead bulb’s deafening shatter scattered clouds i collected in the refuse, as fog set around the waists of skyscrapers, in a corps of aerial tarlatan tutus. 220504 what's it to you? who go blather from