by my trail of fragments,
stale crumbs,
green broken boughs
of protocol.
Footprints
all missteps,
tatters of sackcloth
on the undergrowth,

confused backtracks.
A rough HELP
lipsticked on a map
tossed out too far
with backbite cream.
Here
left the highway
for the woods
pressed jungleward. Discover

a trace of desiccated residue
staining a sheet of paper
struggling to speak.