Fever

I woke up in a thousand different realities
simultaneously, head stuffed with cloves/
industrial by-products and waste/
a single sustained tinnitus buzz.

My matchstick/ bleached coral/
liquid mercury/ collapsing neutron star
hands now heavy, lying limp on our bed
of ball bearings/ tangled, knotted string/
tulips ready to flower in the wrong season/
©¢¥€<¦¦|÷™>|} / shredded rejection letters.

I knew if I got up, I would be nothing,
only a spectre roaming the cooling towers/
sulphur clouds on the surface of Venus/
the silent void/ an unlit, winding labyrinth
deep beneath the earth that we will seal
for ten thousand years, warn against entry.

Your cool back of your palm to my forehead,
collapsed possibilities, brought me back
to our bedroom (/ flashing red lights.)