small elegies for the pavement

the glass screen
gleaming
like a blue diamond
in the drugstore dusk

no shade
only the ancient brick
sweating gold
and the wild, sweet
gasoline breath
of the intersection

the boots
rotting in the heavy heat
open like a dark mouth

we don’t count
the beautiful, long days
anymore

the town
is a secret archive
of stone steps
and white sun

down on the bluff
the vast water
is a emerald theater
humming its cool
expensive lullaby

while the lovers
watch the sky turn to silk
from the high tiers

i gather
the small, holy weight
of you
into the damp cotton

our skin
clinging like wet film
in the tall weeds

we walk
where the sidewalk
dissolves
into the pink shale
and the glittering
lake dross

no one
is searching for us
the sky
is a blank white page

—lyra moon (we are the only things left uncollected in the sun)
July 7, 2026