::
The men here are cruel by some estimations
withholders of gesture embrace
it’s very personal but not how you think
this is infection’s way
they keep
a prudent distance they spare you
have learned things
about mercy
::
The men here can’t abide the laws
of this place
the sequential order held fast
some voices are weaker than others
some operate in different registers
the men hum in the frenetic way
a phone hums when called they say aloud
I am a vessel a phone or no
a refrigerator
::
The men here have begun their descent
through cloud feel hollowed
by it rocked by it whited out
how difficult to maintain pressure found
at sea level
the chambers of the brain switching off
one by one shutting down
the chambers of sinew chambers
of bone
how simple to feel elevated one day aloft
buoyed up then
dropped then brakeless then
nothing but weight
