LEAP DAY

how ruining a fall can be

Photo by Andréas BRUN on Unsplash

As a rule I arrange my life in patterns,
but for the dead gaze of a completed day’s
blank white calendar square,
I shut the eyes of the wasted corpse
of a moment in time I missed on a breath
with a permanent marker X in the color of
how much I want those hours again
how much I want to make eye contact in the mirror
with the person I was those hours ago
and warn her not to blink and lose this day.