Conquest wasn't the thing, but it wound up looking like it. The only thing i've wanted without the abandon of boyish greed is a room with hardwood floors. By the next day, you'd never know that someone was able to tread water for seven hours before giving in. The lake doesn't look any different afterwards and you say that life takes too long to start but you started waiting too early and drowned yourself in expectations before anything else. I would offer to wait, but I spent so long shuffling through hours of shopping carts and empty parking lots. I've had it both ways though: I've sat on a porch in the rain and dreamed about space while you told me half-remembered thoughts from weeks previous. If the waves ever die down, we might make it out. If the waves ever die down, we might make it out.

I had another dream i thought was real. The buildings of the city drove about on roads and we were together on the wrong side of a four-way intersection. They moved without wheels and obscured our view of the moon and the stars. All the lights were out and we had to feel the buildings inside of us to tell when they would move. Offices and stores sat tense where the two roads met and we had to intuit our way across. We dashed to the other side and I went about my day as if this had been a part of the ill-remembered night before. It wasn't until the afternoon that I realized we were never in such danger. On figuring it out, I stood perfectly still.