snow piled horizontal on the trees and fence thick shadows that persist after early sunsets i told her everything smart s already died or fled she said let s ghost haunt the deep fried countryside south till we defrost standing under the spanish moss on the third coast but we d be there that spring i d told her i had a bad feeling bout it she said you get a bad feeling bout everything hanging like locks on the overpass i held a cigarette up to the headlights below so i d know when to ash i was quiet she s right i m learning too slow that i ll go nowhere fast what a drag is this one of those things that i can figure out or just one of those things i ll learn to live without if i m waiting i don t know what for whatever it is it don t seem worth it now look how far i can extend my adolescence i m not sure but i think that it s impressive that i can t leave head lodged in the firmament full grown and struggling with object permanence