the platitudes of willful resemblance

in general, we don’t speak.
passing fitfully, neatly drawn out.

the photograph
on the wall
strays the story to length
but I don’t speak of it
directly.

indifferently.

aberrantly it hangs,
an hour off,
two hours.

witnesses the coffee
cigarettes, alcohol
women
dirty dishes

and we
gathering adjacent to
its unique
(all evidence against)

shared frailty, cannot
be brought
to words beyond
the manual.

 – Hoc Scripsi

image from Willow’s Magpie #41