a world plagued, blood-clotted, and strained

the city moaned—

fingerprints    blood splattered
                       once bulletproof    safe
                        within our walls

gummy-thick       blotted out

my flesh spent
time’s remainder
trying to siphon
off stained lives

green earth
arched her back

heaved me
    from
pursed lips—

wind   poached
my breath

carried me
beyond skylines

beyond perception

a dismembered gnat
who can    no longer

Andi (Andrea) Horowitz is an older emerging poet who lives in Fort Myers, Fl. with her husband and their two cairn terriers, BeCa and Bleecker. Andrea can be read in VARIANT LIT, STONE PACIFIC, NEW NOTE, VOICE LUX, and others. She thanks you for taking the time to read her work.