Rough-rider

A lie becomes legit the more you say it. Sometimes
a broken rule is more true than how you condemn it.
In Bangkok you bargain down to find common ground
—even pedlars know how to meet halfway. I don’t
want haggled worth: more than the bare minimum.
Back home a bridge divided; now the same hemisphere
but still miles apart. Alpine high, so far removed that
you’ve lost me. Think of what you’re missing, milk
the tide pulled away to unveil what’s hidden. I dove
into blue and shed temperate skin: all melanin, defence
mechanism. It’s just feelings—let it drip off, dry out,
dread the cold when it sets in sharply. If you don’t
want to, then let’s not. Dry-swallowed pill clears fog.
Piercing screen: the filter does nothing. You can’t hide
the bruises showing.