downstairs halfway dead sucking down coffee from a black old fountain is your home where you lay your head or where your fake swordfish is mounted eyes crossed habitually i would leave the room prematurely with a tiny little pile of dark roast grounds where i once stood just enough there to keep me safe rained out wrapped right up in our metaphorical overpriced ponchos endless rides home circling the block for the whisper of a word we didn t know how to use in a sentence saw you went home drank myself silly in the basement alone and the spiders were showing off a sense of humor on the ceiling spinning letters together i read we keep you safe lost art lost boy watching a grown man drink a 211 at 11 a m our old joy but everything is changing even faster than it was back then you hold me it feels like i am finally closing my eyes after a year and a half long day and i am tired as hell listen close do you know that you keep me safe 1