sugar down the syrup in the queen anne s lace shining in the light of nightshade cultivating unsophistication in my face trying to think of nothing to say grapes gone sour and the spinach went to seed waiting for the hour with a wherewithal to leave patient as a dog for its master aubergine aubergine aubergine aubergine the labrador was locked to the promontory rock she called down said time is an illusion an inconsequential shift as the continents drift but my confidence was crushed and i miss you regardless aubergine aubergine aubergine aubergine aubergine aubergine aubergine aubergine you can be your body but please don t mind if i don t fancy myself mine you at 32 still tied to your poor mother s apron strings sorrel in the gravel and the saffron robe sleeping like a shark in the cord grass until i saw how far i traveled down the solipsistic road i climbed out to ask for directions there was not a pond in sight and here i m gasping like a fish in the desert with a basket full of eggplants who asked about the passage from the bible on my wrists but i couldn t catch my breath enough to answer