In Every Unbelievable Acceptance

—for thaddeus

that it seemed as if his words

had only penetrated us

that when the fat sax exploded

eliciting us to drop to our knees

wave our fists and commit every sin

and later absolve ourselves with our natural youth

reckless/boundless/agitated

that his viral words made us all kin

in this room of christened tongues

becoming handshakes/backslaps/kith

that it was elation and illumination

recapturing all we had lost or would lose

poised in our dead man’s heels

we shined to a new remedy

---

though i’ve driven potholed streets

passed vacant storefronts and boarded windows

passed half-patched people in november lines

with a feeling dragged home

that i grew taller than the unquenched dream

that i saw the future more lucidly that day

i could hold it in my fist

and squeeze it until my blood tempered

then pass it on in a single kiss

deep in the caffeine night

as dawn readies to spill out and

offer something better for young lovers in bruising winter

that our vigor chased away fear

from the shallows of blistered hearts

of exquisite beauty drunks

whispering forbidden destinations

that i learned to live with the good fight

and settle in laughter and redemption

raising this glass to what comes

that we accepted compassion

in our anger

and favored disrobing

and wielding truth not as a shield

but a memory parade

in the evolution of pain

paint it wide and vivid

call in the animals

bury the syringe

dark the sundial

carry the message and

embed it into every door