All Debts Real & Imagined

Knowing the indulgences
& the ripple trail in Latin
landing on water
              sipping at the pale sunlight that
                              tunnels thru a thin layer of smog
to light up palm trees & pelicans
              wrecked on adrenalin & perfume
too near too intricately woven into
what I suppose is my consciousness
                              or something close to that
              tossed like an empty from the railing
as one could summon bare puddles
                              collapsing into their own reflections
like the relics of a failure you could never surrender
to fevered lips
              stung by salt spray lifted from the marathon tide
& a couple million lightyears later
                              it shatters on the sunburnt pavement
outside the Moby Taco
              a block from the beach
& you’re just going to have to wait
                              inside the shadows that strum the palisades
on the next to last day of summer