Morning

[tectak]

Morning, matt,
Unusual for me I am draw  in to interpretation of this piece. It "reads" well and that is one ovewhelming requirement of pop-prose. I could break the thing up in any manner different ways based on meter, syllable count or form but I just cannot see how I could improve the inherent rightness. So I am forced in to a place I don't often go and that, that, is a very good thing. I read awakening in some devastated environment, not post apocalyptic, but post volcanic eruption. If wrong, then I have to say it is your fault...go to line 1 of this crit. If I am right, procede to line by line
When we woke,
we wrapped ourselves in tangerine light,
kissed the morning with blood,
wrapped our biceps with silver linings,
and found our pulse. No technical issues here but "wrapping" with "linings" is a tad unconvincing...but you seem to like wrapping things.... You line-end on pauses but you could lose the comma after "linings" whereupon the pause, if thought needed, would fall naturally by enjamb/and combination. If anything, the metaphorical language is disturbingly surreal....and by definition not "real". This is not helpful to understanding but creates atmosphere, read "imagery". So moving quickly on....

The sky was covered in ash— We have made a transitional slip in to observation now, and the metaphors have fallen like ash from the sky. You are now no longer able to support the surreal and for me you have lapsed in to unthinking cliche...it reads as though you (not the character) are relieved. Grey blanket skies, falling like snow,crumbling in hands? Hmm. I just KNOW I have heard those expressions before and yet the feeling is of forgiveness because holistically the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The problem now is how to get back ahead of the reader and that makes me dread what is coming
thick gray blankets
that fell like snow blankets falling like snow is a toughy
and crumbled in our hands.

A cardinal sat outside the bedroom window, If course he did. I mean, why not? Sounds good to me, but what the hell does it all mean? Now you see why I normally avoid content crit. Could you bring in a traffic warden at the end...just to clarify the situation by familiarity
unaware of death cackling with clenched teeth,
and searched for something to eat in the fog.

So I liked it...does that make me a bad crit? Seriously though, obscurity should not be an end unto itself ESPECIALLY if it seems accidental. The middle stanza sounds much better than it is, or perhaps I should say "sounds more" than it is. As a link between the tempting intrigue of the opener and the quizzical video-game imagery end it only serves to show that you are unsure of your own intent. That throws me...was that your intent?
Best and ditto billy's comments,
tectak