Self-Portrait With An Incoherent Man I

if not now / then grass, not glass—the ground / must not spider under one heavy step / including your own

if not now / then the phalanx / a sky of men / ground-wed / tongues wet with salt / not their own / despite their belief otherwise

if not now / then can you breathe / suffocation is a mnemonic / what didn’t you see / what will you admit to seeing

if not now / then hammer as / chisel / a promise, extracted / the architect of red and orange

if not now / then blink until your eyelids shatter / I am silhouette not quite shapeless / drifting upward / not quite out of sight