past few months

we don't feel much different than we did on august 29,
when we sat on the green at 3am and smoked away the grime and the allure
of stripclubs and gas station convenience stores.

the newspaper car went house to house sometime around four,
and we watched from the dew damp grass
where we set off fireworks months before.

up and down west Hartford streets,
slowly swerving to get both sides in one sweep,
pausing at every house.