Asylum Seeking, New Hampshire

I read the neuroscientist’s 
account of heaven
in Newsweek

ink seesawing overhead
in licks of headlight,
dewdrops    refracting

    miles, unrest,
    promising surface;
    a new vernacular.

The furnace hugs
the safehouse    we talk up wind
to tea steams,

snowflakes drawing latitude.
Outside the trails
unspool spirals;

ringing the orchard’s 
speckled hide    angling 
sightlines to peer out from.

Our mattress pins the headboard
each toss shuddering
a wall sliver

it’s the last thing I hear
before crumbling;
not a crosswind

    but evergreens
    shedding white,
    managing spirits.

© Ryan Pratt