for an unlimited MetroCard

or green juice cleanse

just a chorus chanting your name

when you walk into a room

the mood is moonlit & interior

you prepare monologues

on ethics & speak them

into your fan’s whir

while in the corner

your archetypal parents

mumble about wasted youth

you don’t need a therapist

only belief in an impossible cause

like the gods you suffer

from pride not shame

you walk for hours

in casual loose-fitting

summer-wear & arrive

at a fork where you must choose

between justice & mercy

as rock cliffs slope

down to an agitated sea

where your prophecies precede you

you can weep openly

as boats on the horizon

circling a shore though you may

have to turn into a tree

or constellation

because some minor hero

can’t control his arrows

there is no selfhood here

but selfishness

remains & hunger

a robin’s chicks in the eaves

call out to be fed

also heartbreak

you can’t stop it

these flashes of light

in the orchard & amphitheater

or the olive grove

on a summer night

in this ancient life