present tense present
tense present tense.

when he vomits
it gallops
it leaps
it ballerinas
from his mouth.

it is an off-yellow quicksilver gazelle.

it doesn’t matter to him.
he vomits mid sentence,
then keeps going.

he has had practice. he
has been drunk into the night,
past the night
and in and out of weeks and over a year.

if i learn anything from this
it will be to keep my fears
from being beautiful.

i have not learned that yet.