you know asphalt tastes like death:
gritty between your teeth. you lose
yourself to the icy street. drunk shoeless, you lie
there waiting for an inattentive truck
to do what you couldn’t. but it’s 3am
in the suburbs and you can’t help
but think you botched it again. so
you dry your eyes. swallow a few too many
sleeping pills. easy as a deer bolting
from the headlights. you realize
ash is not snow; gutter slush will not save you.
the concrete cannot speak your name.
Paxton Grey (he/they) is a non-binary, neurodivergent software developer living in Virginia. He has a degree in Computer Science from Virginia Commonwealth University. They can be found on twitter @PaxWrites.