it’s where the sidewalk ends
prematurely
like my youth

it’s where I lost
my marbles

it’s where I sleep
like a baby
sawing wood

my happy place
remains so vast
you can’t find it
like a needle
in a knapsack

this is the best stanza
I wrote last night
in my happy place:

“tie forget-me knots
to a paradox before
graduate schools of fish
watch me sink
or swim in the deep
end of knowledge”

it’s an exclusive club
my happy place—
no pricks allowed
except the dick I think with