Loop

Desire is a loop: unmet,
I bend inward, tighten

with each repetition. Like
the apocryphal audience,

screaming out of the theater
at the sight of a silent train,

I’m caught by composition,
fully convinced the story

ends in pain. I run away
from the gleaming metal

again, follow the worn track
back to the screen just in time

to see myself failing.
There’s a reason I can’t

turn away. There’s a reason
we are all mesmerized.