dying is not enough: nails that could no longer hold the petal mask we wore the winter it all became undone

I walked into a mattress firm with a box of duplex nails and a hammer my dad got me for christmas

I asked the manager if the bed could accommodate a body in permanent recline

he said it could and obliged in the ritual as another customer discussed a payment plan with a kiosk

years later people would visit the store to see if their threshold for intolerable comfort

was the same as mine