350/365

standing in an alleyway
broken yellow bicycles and spewing
air conditioning units.
a warm brown beer in a plastic cup
leftover from last night,
talking climate change
and the end of the world.
we’re genetically programmed
to eat the weak he says
right after he points out a few
planets on an app on his phone.

we eat.
we drink
we laugh.

discuss the encroaching darkness
as if it has not already devoured us.  

out of a cab. alone on a sidewalk.
that sad song that keeps me tethered
to the loneliness at my core.

i feel a warm pulse of love
a gentle whisper of hopefulness.
the moon in chunks behind some mist.
we are here and breathing
and dreaming toward peace.

there is nothing we won’t overcome.
there is nothing we won’t outlast.

beyond the alleyway
the sidewalk leads home.