96 Hours Later

Fin

A noisy bar
An unclear mind

Three in conversation
One in doubt

A chance encounter
The sound of four euros colliding
A verbal transaction

No record left

Three days later—fulfilled
Ninety-six hours later—offered

Five hours of trial
First barrier—passed

No contract
Only a nod

Ten hours later
The relay continues

Glasses collide
Alcohol keeps being poured
A rotation of erasure

Someone laughs
Someone calls out

I can’t remember who said what

The body tightens
keeps working

Two hours past noon
Intermission

Uncertainty
keeps rising

Like unwritten terms

One hundred eighty minutes later
Second half begins

A dim bar
A crowded weekend

Murmurs blur
Unreasonable guests

Broken sounds
Curses under breath

Two people
One objective

One works
One calculates

Cleared plates
Changed tablecloths
Dining room lights off

Tonight
ends

The bar fills with drinkers
Stories sealed under skin

In the dark
I drink a beer

Alcohol
is not enough to sell my soul

Numbers
are

One hour later
past midnight

Congratulations
You are now part of it

Hands meet
A nod

As if something settled

—Intermission—

Friday evening
18:30
France

Lights come on
Greetings
Politeness
Workplace rituals

Take your positions
Wear your masks

5.6% enters the bloodstream

Order dissolves

Crowds overflow
Laughter cuts through

Someone leans in
Says something

I nod

But I don’t hear it

Panic
Disarray
Powerlessness

Alone

Languages collide
Ink fails
Paper remains

Who wrote it
Unknown

Time passes

22:53
Curtain falls

500cl of alcohol
washes away
the noise of the city

Leaves
emptiness

A map inside me
missing a side

Promises on paper
flicker, unstable

The soul withers
three days, three nights

No direction
Words misplaced
Communication breaks

Come earlier tomorrow
Time and place
unclear

Decision made

I walk in again
Nothing familiar
Language distant

This is the end

Unpaid labor
No proof

Workplace violence
Awaiting judgment

Silent accounting
Unsettled

From here on
cut clean