let’s start over
as if we could
carry the limestone
inside our breath

a chokehold and more
we were that couple
seen on the waterfront
wind brushing past our faces

creating drama
where the dark plot had yet to surface
the broken bottles and wooden toy trucks
the single doghouse rose and blackout shriek

let’s start over
before all those deaths
the laundromat a few steps away
before they converted undo into a noun