Some Days We Crawl

They lied to me

nothing settles for months and weeks

and days and years

and in that time

I grit teeth to dust

till water slips fresh

ugly and open

upon beds creased

with the effort of sleep

warm with the ease of indiscipline

nothing more

than a whole world made flat

ambitions riveted

against chest bones that swing

in time with too late

and cages stacked around black

trapping sweet children

in grown men’s heads

with no real way out

but it really is as woman said

lessons learned soft sting

but those who bare backs

corked with age

for those hard backs

they burn