excerpt 1

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drinking poison all day and she

said she was thirsty asked
why all it did was rain and then the
needle tracks of course and all of the
tear-stained apologies

the white spaces between houses

the smell of the river and

the same old argument

said the baby should have a name and i

told her there was no baby and
she asked why i hated her

she asked why i kept denying god

and the police had a  clear shot

but then he jumped

the streets were empty all

afternoon but i kept hearing the
sound of laughing children
 

kept getting off at the wrong exit

knew i was almost home but

couldn’t figure out why