air jordan

life and death

is a kissing curse

where one

sees the universe

in reverse

from closed to open

with a

child knowing

adult unknowing

aged knowing there is

no more than unknowing

as all spreads too far

away

*

does the doctor

see death in my eyes

or just his own reflected

through empty, black

bulbs that didn’t grow

in the green around

*

the bird struggled

on the ground

to be a bird

but i took off my shoe

prepared to smack it

watched it spread

its wings

as though my hand

with shoe for a glove

made enough wind

to lift it up

and see me there

silly

face twisted

hand where my foot

should be

and walking later

with the blood of could-have-been

making weaker and weaker

imprints on the ground

that weakens too