you should have 
disappeared years ago

i stole melatonin from
the catacombs--
felt my bed room walls 
origami
fold me a crane --

me, a body-- creased mouth
bent spoon neck--
paper cut thumbs--
1,000 cranes i folded--

is this enough
to ask the gods
to name a star 
for me to keep? 
cosmic 
pocket change--
i clamor like dimes--

suns burn craters
in my thighs

those gnat buzzing
stars--
oh how they
pour from
our chimney--

& so on & so on

i sway
a yo-yo string--
pull me back up
against the asteriods's
cold
hard chest

trapeze 
artist balanced
between
each side of
my rib cage--

he falls frequently--
climbs ladder rung
spine--

climbs esophagus--
the plastic
play ground slide 

you should have 
disappeared
a years ago

the magician says
as he places
me inside his hat 
as he covers 
my mouth with a white
glove

as i feel 
myself
burst white
rabbit

as he blows me into
a bubble--
oil spill
rainbow skin

you should have 
disappeared--
so so many years
ago 

inside dust cover--
weight of a novel
pressed against
bone

words thrust 
across chest--
type-writer kiss
on type-writer 
kiss--

so so many 
years ago
inside that magician's 
hat--
that should have been
the end--

so so 
many years ago

when you climbed up
the play ground slide
determined to ascend

up yo-yo string--
gnats as
stepping stones--
stars as gnats

wave planets from
your face-- jupiter 
& saturn all trying
to kiss your
collar bones

you should have disappeared
all those years ago--

i unfold myself--
unfold paper crane
walls of my room--
paper cut a window
in my thumb--

the sun is a star
is a sun is star

warm pressed up against
my asteroid body--

i burn up 
in the atmosphere

1,000 crane fire

this parking meter
i pay for sleep
by the hour--