Dogs 2020


vii(1/15/2020)
before
he
slipped away
his worldly
affairs
began slipping
away
starting
almost a year
earlier
relationships
first
then
job
car
home
he was
preparing
the way
for an
easy physical
escape
his spiritual
escape
would already
be complete
before
he took his
first step
away
only
his bodily
presence
belied the fact
that he was
still there
at all
he would
miss
none of that
which was left
behind
he had
let them go
while they were
still within
his grasp
they
were ghosts
figments
of the collective
imagination
having
no value
at all for him
anymore
as he
cleared
the city
veered
from all
that was civilized
even
the things
that he carried
the clothes
protecting him
from the sun
had faded
from his
mind
as he
was fading
from his
own
existence
he floated
almost free
of the
planet
adrift
in the cosmos
unaware
of any
gravitational
pulls
the Universe
Faris
everything
nothing
folded
together
within
his skin
and the
first day
had just
begun