"nights as cool as silver"

"nights as cool as silver"
written without sleeping for days by jake kilroy.

merciless crows wearing coats of blackbird feathers,
sucking at the air like the corn is in season,
gasping for breath between the telephone wires;
no good flies for the whiskey bread pudding,
left out all night in the easy breeze of spring chill,
we all gathered around on the porch to slack jaws
and count our blessings on rusted stars above.
no bliss tucked in a flask, readymade for lust.
tongue clicks in the desolate swell of the night
with prayer canons shooting off mouths 'til dusk.
old rye stuck in your gums, settling in your throat.
murderous beds with hope notched on the wood posts,
always loving and leaving out the window to the roof
and keep kicking our heels in the dirt of long winding roads,
of which we begged for forgiveness, but got what we wanted,
the silence that pierced our cheeks like birds shattered by the wind,
with stories piling up in our guts until we found it difficult to wheeze,
finally left without reason or sense, burying our heads in water,
so we can talk ourselves out of staying put and never wasting our laugh.