Like a calm buttery dress.
Like a school bus home from clouds.
Like the piss stain on the sheet.
Like the canary

you are
moving in a distracted manner;
heavens and heavens of piled-up bodies.

There is nothing in the movement—
and then there is nothing left in the painting.

We pull each other up and let go.

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Josh Bettinger is a poet and editor. He is the author of the chapbook A Dynamic Range Of Various Designs For Quiet (2019), from GASHER. Recent publications include Handsome Poetry, SLICE, flock, Columbia Journal, Atlas Review, Crazyhorse, and Boston Review, among others. He lives in Northern California with his wife and kids.