Age Walks Behind

first published in Every Day Poets
you, breathing timeless death you pick up, second-hand: a contact high, it slices lines under your eyes, bruises skin, pokes at tumors that had never been; swallows the sweet lies of "forever-and-" wraps its arms around you, comforting a bit too tight, bony, melting gone.

First published in Every Day Poets, 2012-03-06. Reprinted here by the author.