what did you do

when the rent’s not there

and that fridge blinks back with nothing but

two beers flat as an old witch’s tit?

you sparked a cigarette with one last match

watched smoke curl like it knew something

something you’d forgotten.

Some dog across hall barked into a void

that never barked back

and someone broke a glass in an alley.

some name shouted into asphalt air

while you scratched your story into a bar table top

made each letter bleed a little.

what did you do

when she walked out

with books, coffee maker

and that grin carved from ice

you slouched in worn-out briefs

ate cold noodles with a camping fork

typed bitter psalms into blue glowing screens

each one a flare shot at a godless sky.

and what did you do

when phones died silent death

and your inbox whispered dust

and cat stared like you’d failed it all

you poured two fingers of cheap sin into cracked glass

toasted absence

laughed like you still had teeth to show

because applause don’t come

in rooms like yours

still, curtains rise

always do.