We’re all dying and its thoughtless to lead with, “Hey” and “What do you do for work?”
I need to know:
After countless lost loves, I’ve learned that I can’t fall in love, or make love; if you won’t at least answer these questions.
I will.
of the holes in the bodies
in the ash of the wreckage
after an ad for therapy
I am reminded that
I have never left my cats in a war
to escape with what’s left of my life again
of a woman in yoga pants
next to a gun on a bridge near my house
The cops asked me to describe each moment
as construction workers spray painted RIP 5/4/2023
while 100 cliff swallows under the bridge
became a spinning cloud of
little did they know
being hosed off an hour after
having said I love you to the owner of it
His body appeared
half crushed and preserved
in a suit and a tie and a coffin
returning to the spot where he died
I met an angel named Titus
who taught me, to learn is to hope
in the carpet of my childhood home
Among the piles of online deliveries
there was 1 puppy, 2 cats, and a carpet cleaner
1 lived, 2 died, and I rocked in the shower
after 3 gallons of solvent would not remove
the shame of the quiet that settled in between us
after she chose death
before I’d taste the earth again
between my teeth like dentist tools
reminding me that the human right to grief
Is not allowable if the body count
does not climb high enough
to lower the price
or make the news
or kill the witnesses
or reach the deaf ears of God
before the winners become the losers
instead of misunderstanding the language that
Some have not been raped for their wings repeatedly
by the hawk that combusts from thin air for the pitiless chaos of renewal alone
Some will not admit the cancer is systemic
because it was not heard in words they hear
So I propose we pretend to vote
for the human being who speaks the following words:
Fuck this
Whether a hypothesis or a prayer
both are still a wish
for something to be true
that is not yet provable
Baby spider or baby human
squished or bombed
the life hangs on the thread
of your unspoken beliefs
Ten slides pitched to
stakeholders nodding while texting a lawyer
All in all, the slaves will dig the whole deep enough
until allowable levels of blood in tap water
realize a 2% gain in our children’s college funds
Let the minutes show that
we have considered unwanted pregnancies
and agree the culture war benefits interest rates
Besides, those children never seem to guess the next shape in a sequence of random shapes