Last Birthday Cake

Blinding Light, Milk, Wick, Instant Cocoa, Peace Lilly, Bitter Almond, Cork, Malt

Armagnac, Stollen Cake, Brown Sugar, Vanilla Custard, Tonka Beans, Benzoin, Sweet Clover

Rope Necklace, Chekhov’s Gun, Styrax, Skin, Tolu Balsam, Incense, Bran Absolute, Papyrus

Today I remembered there is but one truly serious question.

I’ve grown resentful of all of this, I’m done pretending I like cake, done counting the days.

Done searching for grains of zenith at the bottom of the barrel.

I made it a long way for somebody with a short fuse anyway. Ran, then walked, then crawled. All for a roadside picnic?

Make a wish they said. Any wish, they keep saying…

Few of them even know what they wish for.

My happiest days are probably behind me. A battlefield of fleeting fireworks spurs in front.

Flickering lights are born - then gone before I can even think.

In the distance a big boulder starts rolling on the hill.

I remain

undecided.