fireflies
and
cigarette embers
unable to tell
them apart
as they float
in the dark
of summer
reveries
i can
close my eyes
and feel
them land
on my forearms
one tickles
one sizzles
and i
could not say
which one
is which

it has
become
an issue
this inability
to separate
stimuli
rewired
to believe
pain
is a motivator
pleasure
a myth
the defintions
lose meaning
paradise
purgatory
or perdition
all feel
indicative
in relation
to awareness
no way to tell
them apart
as a part of each
dwells on
the edge of my
tender calluses

as if
all of the
dictionaries
are filled
with lies
the whimsies
of sirens
luring ships
into the coral
as fireflies
sting
leaving angry
red burns
in the shape of
constellations
long burned out