i can’t decide

I am a palace and a haunted house

I’m eloquent poise and a trip or a stutter

I’m the clear reflection and the mud below

The freezing water and the warm sun

I’m the soft fur and the sheathed claws

The wet tongue and the teeth

I’m better than you could imagine

And I’m better in your imagination

I’m hard, reclaimed wood from an old church and the mites that rot it

I’m the sinners that cried in confession, the kiss of the newlyweds

The bored children in the pews, the minister shakily giving his first sermon

The adulterer that sits by his family every Sunday two rows from his mistress

And the storm that blew the stained glass windows out


I’m an early Spring picnic and the ants on the plate of cookies

I’m the umbrella you remembered to bring, but forgot has a broken arm you meant to fix

I’m the classic car without headlights that you can’t register

The gas station two miles beyond where the gauge hits E

You thought I was a chipmunk cub, a fallen feather, a soft patch of grass

I’m a porcupine, a pigeon guard, baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire

The broken neck of a wine bottle you trace your tongue around

The metallic taste of your own blood being swallowed

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i didn’t call you

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Petriolo