You plug ears with cotton
nod in time to lip movements
and promise moonbeams to the sun.

Your kind trade player card lives
with mates in white suits
saying yes over and over

when you really mean no.

Beside me, you dig your fingers
into the top of my hand
the skin edging white
a spreading pressure stain

Four dollars found in dug pockets,
the push of brooms, christmas cards,
crossed the counter a few days after
high school released him from it’s grip.

Gracing favorite hockey team jerseys, 
Halloween cookies, morning juice drinks,
you’re the poster boy of nutrition,
sports sites and spas.

The first night that she died,
we wailed at the loss, tears turned
to hollers and yells and shouts
until her eyes opened and she demanded
her last supper

It eats at you,
a pate of liver
and heart and flesh

Eyes flash back
as the torch scans
the path ahead.
Hackles raised,
they look to us
with cocked heads,