Bookmarks with Valentine hearts
Keep company near the register,
Unbought and marked down
With March on the way.

I suppose I should
Release my optimism
Into the wild
Where it might
Feel more genuine.
I don’t doubt
It’s had enough of me.

Unturned stones
Across unlit acres —
Foul things beneath,
Thinking themselves
Safe from what hunts them
Silently, patiently, meticulously,
Wielding inexorable fate.

Rain, having no will,
Is sinless, whether it falls
Or not. Mercy is wasted
On the rain.

You see them from the road
That keeps company with the river —
Great glades of steaming, fire-breathing
Leafless things, huddled high and wide
Amidst rumors of retreating earth,
Filling vats with Mr. Clean and other
Liquid household things to make
Our modern lives a breeze.

Crudes boiled sharp
To talking points
For immediate release
Into all the new electric
Intravenous tubes —
Inoculants against the truth.