the abbreviation

making my way through the remnants of a beach town, i am picking up tokens - a half melted pool ball, the corner of a photograph, the arm of a pair of glasses. collecting the DNA from this place to be recreated in a lab somewhere, somewhere safe and sterile. somewhere different than anywhere we ever knew.

i just make it onto a train. i don't know where it's going, but it's very important that i be on board. people speak to me in a language i understand but can't respond in. my words are broken, choppy in my throat and when i open my mouth, steam burns its way through, settling in my lungs and threatening to move heartward.