Exit Only

Door left open

Something buzzing in the frame

Your voice still running

Doesn’t sound like your name

Air on my neck

Wet like it already knows

I step outside

And it comes with me slow

Streetlights smear you across the passing glass

Just one version

It dissolves too fast

The shadow doubles where the pavement bends

Hard to lose it

It adjusts again

I cross the signal when it isn’t mine

Every wrong move lands me in the line

I run, run, run, run

Corners don’t release

I run, run, run, run

Every street repeats

I run, run, run, run

Breathing doesn’t change

I run, run, run

I’m still in the same grid

Engines clicking

Oil is bleeding in the rain

Static pavement throws it back at me again

I step inside it just to see if it will hold

But it breaks shape before it can get old

Someone passes with a voice too close to mine

For a second it aligns and then unwinds

I hear it answer something I don’t say

I turn around

It’s in the other way

I lose the rhythm trying not to repeat

But every pattern folds into my feet

I run, run, run, run

Corners don’t release

I run, run, run, run

Every street repeats

I run, run, run, run

Breathing doesn’t change

I run, run, run

I’m still in the same grid

Stop

It stays

Move

It stays

Look

It blurs

Don’t

It stays

I run, run, run, run

Corners don’t release

I run, run, run, run

Every street repeats

I run, run, run, run

Breathing doesn’t change

I run, run, run

I’m still in the same grid

Pulse won’t drop

Streets don’t end

I keep going

Again