I.
Restless Kipling Road.
Father said it’d all be better by morning.
To hush my hands
and all their flailing.
I didn’t believe him.
He never got quite good
at shaping stories
or a life for himself.
It took a while
for him
to get up, get out, get going,
but once he started
he couldn’t
stop.

II.
Lehigh Avenue Dollhouse.
Come now, it’ll be all right.
You’re the one.
I can rest
my aching earlobes.
They’ll hear something sweet tonight.
My scalp can breathe in again.
An oasis of peace, but a shelter
for hidden insanities.
We’re all a little nuts.

III.
Aspinwall Apart.
It doesn’t have to be this way forever.
Contorting to confinement.
Mother’s drifted.
She hates that damn box you put her in,
but she could never hate you.

IIII.
Sweet Ivy Street serenade.
My veins are forever entangled in you,
weathered with emotion.
You held me down.
It’s almost as if my
parents shouting sustained you.
But they moved onward,
so fast you didn’t have time
to tug on their limbs,
to say you would always be there.
But I knew you would.

Endings scare the hell out of me.
But I’ve never been a fan of beginnings either…