Parking Lot at Night

 Large lightning bugs sit suspended

Mid quiet crack of illumination 

Shining out over empty white lines. 

People sit cocooned in metal 

Faces turned down

Necks craning over 

The pooling blue light 

In their lap. 

Looking for something inside of themselves reflected back.

Motors idle 

Like minds. 

The only sign of life -

Tap -tap - tap - tap

Next - next - next - next 

Like an irregular heartbeat 

On a cardiac arrest patient 

Brief moments of life pass every few seconds between taps 

None worthy of more attention, not even their own. 

This. This is the great withdrawal. 

Playing out in cars, on ships, at desks, on couches, in airplanes.

The only light (taking life) 

Is the square (endless night)

When will

The great squares of lightning come down upon our common chest 

To shock our eyes open 

To force us to look up

At the light of the moon 

And gasp 

BREATHE 

BREATHE

BREATHE