the deep fovea
in my mind’s eye
allows a visual
acuity to disseminate
every internal flaw
in a broad spectrum
of microscopic woe
clusters of photoreceptors
perceive every new
fluctuation
monitoring and gathering
reams of data
to over analyze
through the long
sleepless nights spent
grasping the beauty
so obvious in others
yet deficient in my
toxic waste filled soul

my pupils are malformed
three triangles stamped
in golden warnings
floating in a sea of
every shifting shades
of green and brown
my biohazard birthmark
as ineffectual as the
minefield carefully buried
around my sputtering heart
a dead man’s land of
poisoned promises where
thorned scrub ensnares
curious songbirds in a valley
where the sun never shines