and distance
and possibility
and stupid hope

it sits
like a vulture on the brain
picking out
the good parts

that feeling
in the chest
that there are 2 hearts in there
fighting

it crowds out
everything else
takes the place
of the usual hungers
only liquids will
go down

in time
it mutates
into a dark thing
unreachable

there are no surgeons
for this
the doctors don't know
where to cut

and you pretend
to continue
down a much
narrower road

as if there were a place
if you could get there
that would be
home......

12/14/97

Happy Birthday Dustin