Nightmares

my spirit could not sustain the weight of the night

each forecast the hideous heft of a nation’s

hatred and abject apathy

and so i retired to sleep

where i had tangled dreams of huge

white men in shiny crimson costume

snatching me up in their jaws

my form now dust as they devoured me

chewing sand in the cracks of their teeth

until they spat me out

without a penny or family or body

to my name