an alley awakens
to the tarot hanged man,
but he went white ribbon
and got out, upside down,
by the skin of his teeth.
before Gibtown,
but after the 20th Century,
it's tough sledding
and we are in too deep,
scared yet confident.
he is I and I am him,
slim with the dreams
thin from within,
hollow as an evening
with sin, where
misery is confused
with mystery.
double takes
and snakes,
where everything is fake,
but that's what makes
it real enough to steal.