Ain't Burned All the Bright

And I'm sitting here wondering why my mother won't change the channel and why the news won't change the story and why the story won't change into something new instead of the every-hour rerun about how we won't change the world or the way we treat the world or the way we treat each other [...]

What is life in a house underwater?

....So I keep peeking through a crack in the door and when he sees me he smiles because the fever ain't burned all his bright up yet and he tells me he will be wonderful in a few weeks and that we'll go back to squeeze-hugging and roughhousing and he'll be able to get through his good-bad jokes without the punchline getting stuck in his throat jabbing and hooking and he says not to worry because he's a fighter like my sister and competitive like my brother but I know he's also a worrier like me....

and she wipes weary from her eyes still glued to the no-good glued to the high-definition glare of low-definition life

...and freedom to play without worry about the rules being rearranged

...and she wipes weary from her eyes still glued to the no-good glued to the high definition glare of low-definition life

and freedom to run and be out of breath and catch it again