As the tint film scribbles hard edges into zigzags

As the floral cloud migrates over and dissipates into memory

As the television becomes me and I become the television

As the static overcomes the challenge of conscious thought

As time truncates and overlaps into brown and gray, a single amalgam

As in the rain the construction paper tie-dyes and patterns

            From which to choose your history and self-definition

So the demons squeeze in like toothpaste but no one notices

So you back your car into a bus stop, killing ten

So you explore shimmering patterns in your head until they divide

So you push a kite into space with a taught spring, penetrating birds-eye

So you band according to category, subset, type, range, group, field

So you address a random one, “identify,” “strike,” “skew,” “deviate”

So you change your name in circles and subdivide, become the stranger