The kaleidoscope mane
And poignant eyes
Appear to me in my dreams.

She comes unexpected

And I am unprepared.

Unguarded.

Unqualified.
Her swollen belly,
Arching,
Condemning,
Vulnerable,
Abandoned.

Pastel letters trickle from her cracked lips.

The flame is now extinguished.

Opaque shadows on the lids are now revealed,

Sinking downwards

Like littered freeways

A smudged reminder

Of her affliction.
Her callow face,
Innocent,
Naïve.


The images fusing with my hallucinations


Paralyzing me


Into recognizing


I have been misled.


Her presence


Forever imbedded





Into my confusion.





Into my incapacity





To determine





What is honest





And what is not.