-for Botham Shem Jean

chet baker’s
“there will never be another you”
is playing

it’s tired 
i’m dark 
i could be 

mistaken 
in here

about everything and the song
my couch is leather
i hear snoring
is that a chagall print

on the wall
that blue is sumptuous and matches
the color i imagine inside the shield of my eyes

i am spent beyond 
the capability of language and packing
or a methane flame

south of duty 
where i think this place is my place
the idea of property 
ownership and keys 

gun belt 
when did i get a piano
how did we get in

the clock i disremember is chiming backward like an undertow 

every bullet has a death day 
my brothers come running resplendent in flak 
jackets from the station house

this blender may not be mine

god take the shell 
off the floor and every casing 
on earth and make 

a staircase to you
melting 

not through all humanity but one soul
show why i have fired

PAUL KONIECKI lives and writes in Dallas, Texas. His poems appear in Richard Bailey’s movie, “One of the Rough”. Some books of his poetry are currently available at Kleft Jaw Press, NightBallet Press, CWP Collective Press, and Spartan Press.