strange, growth, the way

acquiescence flowers

bright and open from shoots of pain

barbs can be rivaled

any slight turned around

absolved in the naked chance of now

born again by pure gamble

the hot second when the oiled catch

clicks into place

and odds as wild as they are

tip to you, lean down

and pull you up so hard you

have to swallow back your heart

the yokes throwing dice

at the loading dock door

locked in to this

horrible scheme

in one round one dude breaks

and takes the whole pot

so sweet and swift that nothing

as bad as you got

can dispute

he’s won

and the snow, here in Texas,

20 years after sleeping in the park

and 5x and 10x hot-plate rooms,

in a black Jeep rolling along

slowly up the wide avenue

smiling in the silence of the car heat

as flakes catch and melt on the glass

been so long in the way of trouble

sometimes it’s as easy as leaning

and letting it’s bad weight roll off

the hunger of calamity

posits you in the maw of fate

but up on your heels and swaying

you’re

standing in the light of day.