orange lights, red flags

a neon light –

dazzling, intoxicating, suffocation

comes later.

dizziness, this is not for the faint hearted

this tap dancing on a tightrope.

and a fall,

there is no bottom,

there is only a scream, a wail,

then complete silence

because the rats will come out

to pick at bones,

flesh – decayed meat simply fades

into ground.

the body will grin, will laugh, will continue to

dance, the skeleton moves

with invisible strings cutting across vision,

a blind spot,

a hard of hearing space,

a distraught cognizance

while normality places the appropriate labels.

to soothe,

to give a story,

to move on with life

and the suffocation hits, when the neon lights

blink.

sputter, loses light, brightness again

with a mind, soul eaten devoured

as the flesh slowly withers from natural causes.

society is placated,

all is as it should be

because natural is how we move on

when the rats are out.

no one wants to know where the meat is,

what the target had been,

pieces are missing,

it’s not evident, it’s not for sure, it’s not certain

and the rats they’ve grown big, strong, tall like men

while dazzling and something off

blink, goes dark, then comes alive again

a lukewarm doubt that causes neither panic nor action.

just inaction,

just a passing of time,

just another day where the dubious blend in.