Frozen Beach Eruptions

so what if the cloud cover
recalls the narcotic decade

spent looking for the dead
father, who wants no flowers

at the ash parade, only fines
and penciled marginalia

so what if the room goes gray
and sinister with the tonal accrual

of ancestors you kept in your
alluvium

at a certain hour it’s all awash
traffic, tent city, meadow

medicinal chemical sun
its delirium aftertaste

walk one step and then another
over and over

the route empty and familiar
as if habit could make love stay