michigan seems like a dream to me now

coyotes know they’re wild

with dreams as shattered as rocks

that turn to carpets on cold beaches

and freeze and poke feet

with dreams as crushed as dreams and

as strange to remember, they don’t try

stairs understand that they are dangerous

they catch ankles and elbows at terrible moments

with no malicious intention

walls know they suffocate to protect

they wear pretty things and open glass eyes

and kill when they die and

flashdrives are built to remember

lights are created to illuminate and

bleach is born to erase mistakes - but

people aren’t made to do any of these things

only to try until we break like rocks into sand

and then we have to understand