how to swim

Rick White

don’t let me interrupt myself steve
i’m a motherfucking serial killer
holy blast radius
pharmaceutical winter

i’m your haunted parentheticals
your white noise ghost
chewing on waves of interference
dancing on the tips of useless prose

i’ve stared down xanax nightmares
in taxidermy bars
i’m the locum doctor
in the for-your-own-good ward

i’ve danced with graceless liars
foxed the chickens in
belted strapped and tripwired
til the filaments go dim

so fill me to the widest part
so i have room to breathe
sanctify your indiscretions
wrought beautifully in porcelain

wake me up in gardens made of night time
beat me til my hands and feet cave in
meet me by a moonlit pool at midnight
i’ll teach you how to swim