stability

the clouds look stable against the blue
behind the moving billboard,
the roadside attraction of
leafless branches

the day after christmas.

what sort of stability am I seeking,
such a jet setter
jetting as the sun is setting
along the horizontal sky?

passing cataract elementary school
on the right,

this black hole in my heart
devours itself
hungry and hot
from the prednizone

faces swim in my head
too much to care about,
too much to love.

always too sentimental for my own
goddamn good.

distance is this cleaving in my chest
this watering in my jaw
this dry air at the back of my throat

and this absence of a photograph
in my hand.

12.26.03