6:39

your first night back
and your mind is hazy from not enough
sleep
it almost feels like you never left
your eyes ache, too sharp vision
these headaches, how you inhale too much
smoke
and fold yourself in half, choking
drooling on concrete
is it like this or is it really like this?
you are the poppies
underneath thus sun
in the cold light if winter
petals bleeding bright, red red red
we don't know why the poppies
lived through winter this year
pale to the point of translucence
i wander from light to light
a moth
to a flame and i can spread my arms
as wide as they want
but that doesn't mean
i am suddenly able to fly