under the cork you call you disguise.
I watch a tilt of perception
go right through my hands
and I wonder how many times
this has happened.
the next thing I know
you grab me
and I know there's something
not
so
right.
I'm so dizzy I can't even lie down
without having to close my eyes--
or else I'd see the world
collapsing on me
and my shoulders.
And again I wonder
how many times this has happened
to you.
remember the time
you breathed I'll never know you?
then you passed out

on my living room floor
your cork
is
holy.
I wonder how many notes
have been thumbtacked to your face,
how many labels
you've had to remove

how long have we been buddies...
I hold your waist
and give you and awkward kiss
it's times like these
your bitterness
is forgotten,
and your numbing is all I desire.

You are still standing tonight,
so far,
but you're slow as hell
and quiet as a train wreck on Sunday,
we both step close,
and I think
until tonight I've just watched
now I'm
just like you--
I stumble and now
I pass out against the dusty old mirror
and now we're both in pieces.