diamond & the rough

first let's ask what can i do for you? before balsamic taste
of there's nothing we can do for you permeates the glinting

tile six years and swelling of a workhorse bruise sunk by
& into craters of pennies piling. revolving door: pathetic.

pardon me for involving myself. i pushed you into asking
for what you want. the response: rustling of ecosure audits

& a quick return. guess i thought for certain life sometimes,
occasionally, when met with irrefutable claim, wrapped gentle

with ethic, hard-strung by fibers of refusing refusing refusing
to let transplants pull the plug on our little home by the hospital,

yeah i thought this shit was a given. was given to me with hardly
any effort. all it took was a hint and they emptied their pockets

into my bulging account. enemy so friendly. capital enemy.
every way i look people are standing. with twitching mouths.

expectantly. we expected thirty cents, god help us. and took
our time with the selling points. one, whomever walks away

from the register slightly shimmering. two, fucking infallible
corrections, barely registering. three, the loyalty one does not

see but feels, cold, unmoving, as once again the tiles gleam.
four, you forget who allows you sleep. forge forgiveness

from hands dripping red. i thought better of sudden mutiny.
you handled it well. better than i thought seeing your eyes

as they broke from the meeting. i don't know how to serve
the animal that hoards what you deserve. capital insufferable.

we breathe together. i am beside myself with you failing
to learn that nothing is given first without asking.