Monday

she eats an hour and a half dreaming fish
feathered halibut blackened du jour
dogpaddling mustard lake
trailing mangy down
headless and beyond reach

it’s three o’ clock, glue eyes
younger bro barrels slumming home after school
dive tuck and roll into blanket-dark
where she sleeps smoking free Salems
trying to catch fire

vial parade and customary fanfare
today was Medical Card Day
is still a piece left to its slimy tail
hedging minutes’ minus
in slow mo

in one dream there’s no microwave

in another next door shampoo girl straddles barstool counter breakfast
like a headline Her hands and soap clouds sun ray
from a blue lead gown a brickish bow stains her shoulder
so tiny
where the words run together

:overeighteen nomeds notimeouts aidofficeorbust

straight shot on the CTA hinge
windows flapping
Big Green’s wings

three fifteen
she scans the street
spots her mother juggling numbers
investing the day’s hustle gravy
from barbershop bid at Lee’s Chicken and Liquor
she is hungry
the ceiling fan whirs but doesn’t turn
Bigcat claws a thought-missing
slipper into gutted rat and Peanut
Tia Maria’s bighead baby Momma sits on weekdays
has escaped the playpen again
is gushing himself into a linoleum square
mimicking his abuelita’s watery dementia
ay mi’ja no puedo mas
back and forth across mud patch grass

fickle trickle
he pee paints baseboard cracks
like an Orkin cherub earning snatch
by the pull-ups

pigeon shit