A step to the left
and you fall off the page, lie there
out of sight, out of shot of screams and deceit

lie there with all that’s pale and asleep and will
not be written and stay

there, quiet and pretending
and reinforced along the seam
that runs between story and aorta

you still have to be so many people for me
you still have to

Fricative from Nachtroer, 2017