still warm, split open

there’s a rat carcass in the parking lot

and my neighbors are making music

and i am standing in both things at once,

feeling it more than hearing it,

the piano’s lagging, the drums going wherever they want.

the sky gets so still sometimes

i have to check if it’s breathing.

it pulses. it does.

don’t tell me it doesn’t.

something that vast has no business …