season finale

the flash in the bathroom mirror
the last photo of the post
a hairy hand and the
apartment hunt
is saggy blue sheets
blind venetian dust
two 10 lb weights on the floor
a new life

at the center of everything is a compromise
not just choosing a place but choosing to live anywhere
is so stevia
our summer camp freedoms
comparatively ridiculous
"to hunt"
for your favorite flavor
putting away your passport
in a drawer
in an apartment
with wood floors
borders bordered with borders
from the day I wallpapered
my first closet
just around the middle
put my little shoes
on my shoe rack
my placemat

hymns and name tags
are the best parts of protest
at the healthcare workers strike
where tens or hundreds stare into the sun
or shade themselves with purple signs,
blown up barf emojis

does it move you?
crying isn't the only response or
it's meanings are multiple
and so are the meanings
of not crying

out here
across the shy dog area of the park

the blue bushes attempt to cover
the things on the ground
that are used to live there

the blue bushes
are a house
the tennis court's a house
the porch of a house
is a house

last night I caught the bouquet
but I won't be the next girl
or the last girl

the wrong ones of us
have these finale fantasies
in fact
you are going to take off your shoes
one hundred thousand more times
in the living room

where flakes of the popcorn ceiling
rest on my shoulders

in fact you have to live
with the poetry that's sunk in
the wrapping paper
the dead trees
the face masks
and everything else that's already been mentioned
one thousand times

the passionfruit
the angel at the center
of the yard
gives less and less

and still
no one is ever the finale