Routine

And the water in the shower is biting cold

Again

I stand beneath the stream

Naked, shivering and painfully still

Screaming

Silently

The neighbor’s dog, Jethro, is bounding across the floor upstairs

I can hear him

The way I always do

And I close my eyes

Coffee is burning in the other room

I’ll need more than this

So much more than this

To get by

I lose myself in these moments

Stumble into dreams

Awaken to apocalypse

And it’s all I can do to keep from laughing myself into tomorrow

Where I’m standing beneath the same fucking shower head

And drinking burnt coffee