i write poems and pretend that you read them aloud

these last days
i took new stock of old ways
and outweighed my grime
with redesigned rhyme schemes.

pleading at the breaks
for new settlements to stake claims
in direct straits left arid
after sussurant mistakes.

blackcurrant tastes cut with
aspirin intake leave me
gasping, but graced with
the ligature's lace.

stuck these pitches
in savory positions;
drunk alveolar ridges
sting sweetly.

so indiscreetly
aware of you, gnarling
unfairly and starting
to swear that you
know me.