I. There is a layer

of broken leaves lining the sides

of the roads, saturated

with days

of the tears

of the black clouds

who weep for the warmer days

that took refuge in a whole 'nother hemisphere

Upon a bicycle

I slip and I fall

the side of my thigh is the recipient of the impact

and I feel physical pain

but it is eclipsed by anger.

II. I slipped? I fell?!

But how? It seems

so completely absurd to me.

I never fall, never at all!

So what was it? Who's the culprit?

It couldn't be the beer,

since I made it all the way here

and this bike of mine is running fine.

So how the fuck did I fall in the muck?

Unless all those leaves

of my sympathy

somehow betrayed me.