5:45 a.m.

early morning, up all night
no drugs, just cheap beer
$15 and change on the desk
a journal swollen with ink and full
I fingered you with disappointing reaction
you keep bringing up the fact I'm going to jail
too many notes
too many poems I wrote on napkins
stuffed in pockets of pants I will not wash
ink bleeds in water
my heart breaks in dark early morning silence.

6:00 a.m.

by Stephen Keymer