these days
feel as if i am
surrounded by
the dead
and the dying
shambling painfully
a big gulp
clenched tightly
blood sugar
fluctuations with
every labored step

a division of
masked faces casting
harsh disapprovals
and blank stares
a high and low system
clashing swirling
the greasy breeze
that hovered
stale and smothering
over the parking lot

a toxicity of
virulent detachment
disconnects my
overworked yet
underperforming
sense of wellbeing
and i stagger blindly
into certain doom
like the arms of
a long lost lover
seeking a rejection
in this abstraction
of tornadic intent