Kloncke

smile too much

smile too insistently

smile a knee-jerk over and over

and you risk unraveling your own mouth

unspooling all your teeth and gums and tongue to the ground.
 

set the fifty-dollar wayfarers of anger permanently over your eyes

shielding yourself from the stupid glare

of sundry disappointments

let the garish old world turn gray

see how quickly you warm to the new gray world

bright gray mornings, thyme supple and fragrant in the garden

soft gray evenings, cozy in a thick blanket, carefully reading Lenin or Fanon

all is well

until one day a kissable somebody asks you, puzzled,

hey

why are you wearing your sunglasses to bed?

(or maybe they never ask.)