of furious strum, permanent press, truncated
Average Joes along for the ride, becalmed
anonymous donors beset by mood swings,
voided warranties lacking proximate cause;

chattering mimes at ease in no-man’s-land, kid-gloved,
tear-to-open-push-to-reseal savvy,
posturing, taken aback in soft-serve swirls,
tilting at no shoes, no shirt, no service signs;

mood lit slow dancers fumbling for dimmer switches,
neutral buoyancies shaken on the rocks,
sucker bets stirred by happy hour distractions,
enduring last calls, twists of fate, transactions of No!;

plain speakers who know what is, is, tracing
results-may-vary bell curves, so just let it ride, you
Jiminy Crickets taunting free-range chickens, you
standard deviations of average mean;

service entrance wits cooing shopworn sentiment,
pawns stoked by snooze button heebie-jeebies,
worst-case scenarios of ham-fisted serendipity,
partial credit laziness holding sway;

dark energy dreamers rendezvousing with gloss,
works in progress overdosing on keep the change
jingle-jangles, out of pocket, out of mind,
antigravity wrestling entropy to a draw;

dice rolling also-rans, close, but no cigar,
horseshoe luck out of context, out of the blue,
maybe, or possibly, not existing, 0 search results
taking its toll, lost in the far end of the tunnel;

jugglers ill-suited to slow rides in fast cars,
speed bump bouncers heavily into redacted bone,
hemmers and hawers holding up the show,
aggregates of expletives, deleted;

survivors of the flimsiest of rough draft surprises,
loose-leaf spittle cornered in sullen smirks,
beat-spooked retro reflectors hell-raising
articles of faith, proselytizing subsurface trysts;

full tilt background noise, wild pitches,
mixed metaphors and stunned silence,
marginalia awaiting further review
through short takes, long shots, crazy talk howls;

little car clowns beep, beeping road trips,
afterthoughts, textured finishes, ragged
loose ends seeking loose ends seeking to intertwine
a continuous etcetera without end. Amen.