You will always be
you inside a dark theater

          Watching yourself, you

    adrift in your
    effortless durability, you,
      so mannered in the face
         of the apocalypse, you

          Watching yourself on the

 Surveillance video, you
   (even before you
         raised the axe) –

    Smoldering in the crucible,
      your story transcribed in
   blasphemies, standing

          At the top of the stairs, you

          Hatched into this frame, you
      on the cusp of an endless
   patience, an emptiness promised

 In the writhing page, in the
   prophecy, the
   distress call tautology, you
   the sole beneficiary,

         A glimpse from outside time,

 There’s never been a man

so unprepared.

Jesse Miksic is a graphic designer and writer living in Peekskill, New York. He spends his life writing poetry, nursing unfinished projects, and having adventures with his wonderful wife and daughter. His creative endeavors can be tracked on Twitter and Instagram (@miksimum) or on his personal website, www.miksimum.com