labor poem

for katie

for weeks, the lights flicker

in our home

our landlord mutilated

the eucalyptus tree

it’s becoming hard to gather 

leaves and remember

to eat

i consider

signs for

god & payday

loans & luxury

apartments now leasing

the severity of it all

the hunger

again & again

we negotiate the terms

of our despair

so this i offer to my friends:

everything is a knife

the stale match

the nail on the road

the icepick on the temple

the fruit fly at the bottom of the glass

& the promise–i will love you beyond the end