Elsewhere burns

Reality is an erasure · Track 3

Elsewhere can’t be reached
our steps are born, buried—
here

It’s not a fairy tale
It waits at the edge of a train track
A café, not a house--
A kiln, not an oven

I followed
coffee beans, not breadcrumbs
women, not witches
money, not sweet words

In its fire
I meet myself—
glazed—
until it cracks—
another else—
unborn

I can’t outrun here.
I pour dark coffee—

I burn