my spirit could not sustain the weight of the night
each forecast the hideous heft of a nation’s
hatred and abject apathy
and so i retired to sleep
where i had tangled dreams of huge
white men in shiny crimson costume
snatching me up in their jaws
my form now dust as they devoured me
chewing sand in the cracks of their teeth
until they spat me out
without a penny or family or body
to my name