Seeing the Earth before Exit

1.
I wore the jacket padded
armor to the office.

The hands that
touched my shoulder

were just dead weight.
Tailored decoration

hid my neck
so there was little

visible flesh.
Stacked fluid instants like

a football game went
from offense to defense,

victory to loss,
covered as possible.


2.

We paid
for ways to spend our minutes.

We exchanged
past units for dollops

of the future,
licking anticipation

from our lips.
Manipulated sound

or flavors especially formed, or
carefully timed open gates.