Death of a Nihilist [poetry]

36. my body's missing pieces

we're twenty and the world is burning.

but who cares. i just wanna run away with you.

we can trawl downtown,

get lost in sprawling suburbs.

smell the red lights holding up tailbacks

tracking back as far as the horizon breaks,

breathe this urban life in

'til fuming gasoline and diesel exhales

match the cold ethanol smoke unfurling

from the cavity of your mouth.

we can ride a train,

and fall asleep in the dingy buses' backseat.

listen to the water sprinkles fizzle and hiss

to the heartbeat of warm, fuzzing soda

bottles in the inner pockets of our jackets,

the heatwaves foam and flatten

as it spills from cracked lawns to lush tarmac

down the corner of your lips,

staining the stretchy collar of your green shirt.

or we can drive

a hundred miles and more.

to somewhere we've never been,

to places we've always been.

follow the blank switchback path slithering

through dense evergreens,

guided only by the solid yellow double lines

on slick black concrete

damp from ever-growing rain.

the fog light reflecting in empty darkness

glisten in your brimstone pupils.

we're twenty and the world is burning,

but going home is hard.

baby, i just wanna run away with you.

doesn't matter where,

as long as i'm with you,

this unforgiving world

brims with sunshine

as bright as the underside of your shins.