Soon I saw

my dense bones

were just the beginning 

of ensuing fever

to fall beside me

all at once

hallucinations 

of the present powder I was deserting

padlocking doors and deleting numbers

at daybreak’s tourniquet.

Epithelial cells are the stakes 

that mount these stained fences,

now blotched and uneven. This sunburn

is a funeral in a dry town.