Where Lies the Land to Which the Ship Would Go?

Where Lies the Land to Which the Ship Would Go?
Nate Pritts

After all this time, finally
a chance
to do some quiet one plus

one, to sort my slow way
through the infinite.
But what if nothing

ever adds up? I've had plans
go south, eaten at diners
so far from town I couldn't

begin to explain what
was going through my head.
I remember

being hungry, an overwhelming
thirst. In those days
I used a lighter to help me

see at night but these days
it's always so bright. So what
if nothing ever adds up.

Twice a day someone comes by
to change my bandages
& tell me it'll be ok

but I don't believe it for a second.
I was a blue baby; I held my breath
as long as I could.