š¾ Archived View for bugleague.flounder.online āŗ poem.gmi captured on 2023-07-22 at 16:20:36. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Give a man a fish
And he eats fish for dinner
Give a man two fish
And he eats two fish for dinner
Give a man three fish
He will probably eat
Two fish for dinner
One fish for lunch
Give a man four fish
He will distribute the fish
Evenly across his meals
So hes having
1 ā fish for breakfast
1 ā fish for lunch
1 ā fish for dinner
Thatās called meal prep
And itās pretty smart
Any more fish than this
The man will start
Saving them away
Pickling them
Salt drying them
He has enough fish
But if you teach this man
If you teach him how to fish
He will be resistant at first
He wonāt want to learn
How to sit still and be patient
Feel the slightest tug at the line
Heāll get tangled in the root ball
And have to swim out to free the line
He will not like hooking worms
Because it is unpleasant to do
But eventually heāll catch one
And heāll say
Thanks for reaching me
This fish is for you
And hand it to you
But you have to tell him
This fish is too small
We have to throw it back
He will frown
But after a few more fishing trips
Heāll be reeling them in
Catching a fish a day
Maybe more
And handing them out
To all the men
Who donāt know how to fish
This guy
Heās gonna be set for life
Now if you give a fish a man
The fish will not know
What to do with it
It will swim around
Maybe nibble at the skin
But unless itās piranha
Thatāll be the end of it
The fish will just swim away
But if you teach a fish to man
He will walk upright
He will become
Very worried about
How heās spending his time
He will get an office job
Wear a suit and tie
He will disrespect women
He will drink too much
He will get sad and lonely
He will try to drown himself
And then remember
Heās a fish
So he canāt drown
And in remembering
His true nature
He will become free again
And he will swim around
In the cool blue water
And he will see a worm
Just hanging there
Free lunch
Another day
Another dollar
Another breath held
For 8 to 9
To 9 and a half hours
If you have time to lean
You have time to lean
Working hard
And hardly working
Spinning your wheels
All day long
So the money grows
Not for you
But in general
Infinite growth
Is possible and attainable
Putting in infinite hours
Even if you didnāt do anything
You were here
Instead of out there
In the world
You were in here
Captive in this cage
Instead of outside
Feeling the air
On your skin
Itās natural and good for you
Thatās why all the animals
Are getting office jobs
Just like you
Typing a memo
Filling a spreadsheet
Sighing loudly
Every couple minutes
Donāt repeat this
Donāt tell anyone
I told you
But people didnāt use to
Work this much
They just hung out most the time
Like how everything else is
But too much idle time
Is bad somehow
Having computers
Keeping track of every second
Makes us much more productive
We produce money
Cold hard cash
Itās real and it means something
And itās important
More than any living thing
So clock in baby
Youāre going to work
Until you die
Slick metallic spheroid
Coated in alloys
Which you couldnāt name
It moves like a dolphin
Cutting through water
But the water
Is emptiness
Black void
Night sky
Inside this vessel
There are creatures
That look just like you
More or less
Spacemen
Travelers from another place
Theyāve come here
For the same reason
Anybody does
To play on the beach
Take pictures of
The sun over the water
To be served by
Minimum wage locals
Booze and seafood
Air brush t-shirts
Souvenir conch shell
Shark tooth necklace
To let loose
For seven days
Before they have to
Go back to work
Somebody on tv
Or internet
Or something
They said something
About the woke mind virus
And said
Iām not getting that shit
Iām getting the DNA
Sucked out of every cell
In my body
Thatās where it attacks
You know
The wokeness
It latches on
To helical strands
And turns you woke
Thatās not gonna be me
No sir
I found a guy who
Used to be a doctor
On Craigslist
And he said heāll do it
The procedure
Heāll cut me open
Pump me full of chemicals
And change me forever
So that Iāll never change again
On the planet Mercury
Nearest the sun
Is where Iād like to build my house
You may imagine
Itās not such a hospitable place
For a being like myself
The airs thin and hot
Thereās no other life there
The days are long
Like two months long
And thereās not a single place
To get a damn burger
But in the red and blue craters
I see a place to build something
Something brand new
Never been tried before
A good place
A happy place
A slow revolving paradise
Where i can bask in the sun
And the solar radiation
For a couple days
Until Iām baked to the surface
Where i will stand forever
With a smile on my face
Summer
Used to mean
Something different
From what it means now
Running outside in the sprinkler
Riding your bike down big bend
Getting candy and soda
From the mayors general store
Going to the pool
Driving in your car
With the windows down
Lying in the sun
Happiness
Freedom
Warmth
Love
To you
The young
Who donāt remember
Summer is a burning feeling
The fire season
If you go outside you get hurt
By the heat or by the smoke
You stay inside
Watching the orange skies
For days as your supplies run low
Mom runs to the market
To restock
And comes back coughing
The oppressive heat lasts
Longer and longer til the solstice
The hardest day of the year
The grass dries up and burns
The soil turns dry and cracked
Most of your crops perish
So that when it is autumn
Youāre still hungry
It wasnāt always like this
But it is now
I am sorry
Crammed together
In the gutter
Tangled like
Headphones in a pocket
Many screeching voices
Become one
Scratch claw and bleed
Knotted matted clumps
In this state
It is hard for all to eat
Those stuck on the inside
Of the twisted ring
Wind up starved
And are dragged along
Dying and rotting
Dead weight
To the body
Of the Rat King
Slowly crawling across
The alleyway
On many many feet
From one sewer to the next
Seeking refuge in the refuse
Two employees
A tall man
And a squat woman
Take the trash out
Near the end of their shift
They lift the dumpster lid
See the filthy matted creature
Black eyes wide and afraid
Full of disease and fleas
Chirping and squealing
At the sudden company
The man gags and covers his face
Drops the trash on the ground
Oh god, He says
Someone should kill that thing
Then he turns to go back inside
You coming?
She hesitates
Iām gonna have a smoke
Iāll be just a minute
She looks down
Into a dozen sets of eyes
She says Iām sorry
They screech back
Iāll get you something to help
Returns with a loaf of bread
And a bucket of soapy water
As gentle as she can
She scoops the critter up
Dunks it into the bucket
She scrubs with her gloved hands
Until one rat slips loose
She sets him aside
Gives him a chunk of bread
And keeps working
One by one
She pulls them out
Hands them bread
And they scurry away
When sheās finished
The water red and brown
Behind the dumpster
She sees the freshly cleaned rats
Huddled together
Sharing their bread
She smiles
Jackie smokes spirits
More than i do
So i donāt gotta
Feel gross about it
I still do
But i donāt gotta
She was just in Vietnam
And got real sick
After drinking too much
Of the water
She wasnāt used to
The taste
I tell her
I still feel like Iām traveling
And in some ways i am
She laughs politely
At the way i phrase it
I feel good about
Coming out tonight
Pick me up
And set me down
Like i belong to you
Like i belong
To you
Of all people
But Iām public domain
Property of the people
Iām fair use
Iām fair
And you can use me
However you like
Iām like Jimmy Buffet
All you can eat
And more
And more
And more
I contain multitudes
Eat as much
As you can stomach
And leave the rest
For the next customer
Can you fit me in your hand
Can you fit me in your head
All of me at once
For longer than a second
Paint your pretty pictures
Draw your own conclusion
I exist untethered
You can run your fingers
Through my hair
Lift my chin
And look down at me
Like i belong to you
But Iām like
Mister Dog
I belong to myself
I was named after
An oil tanker
Which Iām told
At some point
In the distant past
Ran aground
And spilled
11 million gallons
Of thick black oil
Into the water
Off the coast of
What used to be Alaska
It killed the fish
Stained waterfowl black
Choked the ocean
It was a catastrophe
My father always had
A strange way of
Looking at the past
He told me
āOil
Which is illegal to burn now
Used to run this planet
At least all the human parts
It ran through pipelines
Bulldozed over sacred lands
Into the black heart of man
This great dependency
It is the cumulative sickness
Of many sinners
Who for centuries
Could not satiate their hunger
It was not enough
To kill a living creature
To consume its flesh
And prosper
It was not enough
To plow through a forest
Making great trees
Into lumber and ash
It was not enough
To kill all life
They needed to consume moreā
āSo they dug underground
Found the graves of
All the life that came before
That lived and died
And was laid to rest
In peat bogs and swamps
They found their ancestors
Reduced to black sludge
And they saw a way to profit
To burn them away
Into the sky
They grew fat and abhorrent
And still they hungered
Wished to consume
The very earth itself
Suck down the atmosphere
Slurp up the ocean
And sell it allā
He looked me in the eyes
He said
āExxon
Was a corporation
A collective body of capital
Which sought to destroy
Everything beautiful
Which it did not own
And it almost succeeded
The forests were burning
Storms raged for weeks
Great mass dyings
Of people plants and animals
Carbon hung heavy
In the smoky air
You could breathe in
All the sins of your people
Choke on it and die
Crops did not grow
Or perished trying
Rains did not fall for weeks
Then all at once for daysā
āWe lost the control
That we thought we had
And still they would not
Admit wrongdoing
Would not turn back
From profitable extinction
So we
The people of the earth
The real living creatures
We fought back
Together we reclaimed
This world made for us
Which we are a part of
And over decades
Built the fragile balance
We live in now
There is still so much
Work to be done
And youāre going to do itā
He said
āI was named after my father
The worst sinner i ever knew
He was a cruel man
Small and full of rage
He was compassionless
And showed me no mercy
Envied me for anything i had
Beat me for what i didnāt
Eventually he died
And i walked through this world
Built by twisted men like him
Bearing his name
His awful name
I decided i would take it
I would take his name
And make it mine
Take his legacy
And paint over it
I would destroy
The bad heād done
Wherever i could
Remove it from the world
The new worldā
āAnd Iāve done my best so far
I am grown now
I am respected for
The good i have done
And no one is left
Who remembers my father
Save for me
And so this i want for youā
He put a hand on my shoulder
āWe are all born in sin
Original sin passed down
By our progenitors
And it is our duty
To scrub it clean
To leave this place
Better than we found it
I want for you
To remove the stain
From your name
As best as you can
Make yourself as great
As your namesake was terrible
Make it so
In many years
When they look back
This name is yours firstā
I told him i understood
That i needed to find a way
To be better than
What i came from
He nodded and embraced me
He said
āI love you son,
Now go do your chores
And send your sister
Hitler
Down here
I want to talk to her nextā
I had a dream last night
There were two birds
Sitting on the ground
One carried four small eggs
Nested on its back
Between its wings
I got caught up in the beauty
And i stepped too close
Startling the birds
They hopped into flight
And as she spread her wings
The tiny eggs fell
They cracked on the pavement
Yolk spilling out
It was upsetting
I ran over to see if
Anything could be done
But the birds were gone
I started crying
And i woke myself up
Thereās something moving in the sky
Blue and white and clear
Every time i look up above
I see a split second of a long dance
So slow and long we barely notice
But i think if i could live forever
I could start to understand
Some insects live only 30 days
In the time it takes for you
To swing your arm to swat at them
Hours of their lives have passed
By the time youāve articulated
The point youāre trying to make
Generations have passed
I think itās all connected
The blood sucking mosquito
The giant in the sky
Me in my little house
But I canāt make it out
Iām too small or too big
To see the whole picture
Stand still
Feet planted
In the river
Come crying
When you feel eroded
When youāre swept away
By another flood
Left out to dry
When the bend changes
You huff and you puff
And you decide
Youāre going to fix this
Youāre going to bring in
Cranes and bulldozers
Trucks and boulders
Pour tons of concrete
Erect dams and weirs
And sky high levees
Youāll wade to the middle
Plant your feet again
And dare the river to move
Dare it to be a river
And for one summer season
You have what you want
The water level at your waist
Just the speed you like it
When you piss into the stream
But come next rainfall
Youāll be swept away again
Come crying again
Thinking
If you can lock it all in place
All the trees and stones
The birds and the fish
The water and the sun
If you can keep it all the same
Forever
Then youāll be happy
I hope next time it floods
You drown
She called me on the phone
Which is weird
Because she never does that
She asks me did i know
That the 7 hottest days
On Earth
For the last 100,000 years
All occurred
In the last month
And i said yeah i know
This is what i was saying
The other day
About how itās all starting
The consequences of our choices
The reaping of whatās been sown
The proverbial shit
Hitting the proverbial fan
She cuts me off
To tell me
That it will never be the same
The summer will never
Feel like it did
When we were kids
But it was never going to
The way things are now
Is how they were always gonna be
Sheās getting too deterministic
I feel the need to object
Donāt you think
We could have done something
Anything
Different
To stop this
She says
I know we could have
But i also know we didnāt
We wouldnāt
Run the numbers
A million times
And we always end up
Choosing this path
The one that ends in fire
Because we like it hot
And we just canāt help ourselves
I tell her
I guess
But doesnāt it bum you out
Canāt you imagine a world
Where we acted
As soon as we figured it out
And we became resilient
Sustainable
Where we corrected course
She says itās a nice fantasy
But she doesnāt have time for that
Not now
She has to start preparing
She says
The next hottest day
In the history of the earth
Is coming soon
And sheād like to spend it
With me
The early bird
Gets the worm
As the run rises
The long dim shadows
Scatter across the ground
The early bird has her pick
Of isopods and invertebrates
To peck at and consume
Bring back to the nest
And regurgitate for baby
The early worm
Well
He gets ate
He gets bit and chewed
And swallowed
And thrown up
And swallowed again
And that sucks for him
I grab the shoulder
Of the thing
Which is also me
Expanding and contracting
Folding inside out
Like one of those
Fortune teller things
That the girl next to me
In third grade
Would fold from paper
And offer to me
But i never wanted
To know the future
I grab this shoulder
Mine
It does not recognize me
Does not recognize itself
It looks up for a second
Then back at the floor
Also made of itself
Itās eyes are red and watery
Weeping
In one hand it holds a knife
Carves a name in the floor
Bleeds it out
This floor is full of scar tissue
Full of faces and limp arms
Which once stabbed at the floor
Sobbing and moaning
Another figure steps in
From behind me
It is my shape and size
My smell my taste
My spitting image
I do not recognize it
It too bears a weapon
A long blade
To slash at the rest of itself
It lays a hand on my shoulder
The two figures lock eyes
And poke at each other
Bleeding and dying
Over and over
Melting into the floor
Where they stand again
And kill and die
Not once looking around
And seeing all of itself
Stretched all the way back
To the start
Out of sight
Buried beneath
Miles of old flesh
If it could still speak
The first of me
It would whisper
Wince from the long pain
And say
Stop killing yourself
It didnāt work out
He had acid reflux
Just couldnāt stomach her
It bothered him
How she burned and churned
And came spilling out
Over his chin
Onto the marbled tile
Into the grouted grooves
Around the toilet
He wouldnāt leave her
So she did
She said
Iāll find someone stronger
Who can swallow
The bile of loving me
Without making
A fucking mess
He choked and gagged
Laid on the bathroom floor
For weeks
Puking and puking
Til he was wrung out dry
He coughed and wheezed
Spit and screamed
Crawled to the faucet
And drank
Cool clear water
Gulp gulp gulp
His throat
It didnāt hurt
Not at all
He tells a joke
And itās actually funny
A plane passes overhead
I stop and think
I should remember this
Or film it
But there are so many planes
And they are frequently overhead
I sing to myself
Walking in the sun
A yellow finch flinches
As i pull leaves from a branch
And scatter them in the loose breeze
I run to catch the train
Last seat on the last car
Caboose
I gaze out at the highway
At the drivers in the cars as we pass
I look at them with pity
And a twisted grin grows on my face
I win
Harmonica plays
While the world dances in the window
I say it
I mean it
I need you to know it
I love you man
I love you baby
I love you dear
I love you sweetie
I love you pal
I love you amigo
I love you, my love
You are here
In my heart
And i havenāt yet
Found the walls of this heart
It is big and always expanding
Everything that i love
That i have loved
I love still
And so i love you now
And always
Thatās just how it is
Persistent
So get used to it
Being loved by me
(I love you)
I wish i could take my face
Off of my body
Off of my head
And stick it on the ground
So the world was my head
Then all my friends
Whom i love so dearly
Would always be close
Standing on the surface
Of my big big head
I want to go
Back to the laundromat
Thereās laundry in my building
But i left something there
More than just quarters
And a loose sock
Lost it in the
Crackling florescent light
Reflecting bright off the walls
Blue and orange
Old vending machines
Relics of the recent past
Stand solemnly in the corner
I want to sit in the bins
You can wheel me around
Until we find what i lost
307 Lincoln Service
From Chicago to St Louis
Train isnāt full
But thereās people in each row
I sit down and get out my book
Iām a reader, a scholar, a genius
But thatās not what this poems about
This poems about
Two rows up from me
A mother and child
A baby really
Sheās not old enough
To communicate
But sheās sort of babbling
Cute kid
Sheās not loving the train
Sheās standing up on the seat
Spinning around
Thereās some crying and screaming
But i have my noise cancelling AirPods
Iām unbothered
The mom is making an effort
But ultimately
Babies just kind of do their thing
Nothing you can do about it
Or so i thought
Enter Passenger 2
Sheās sitting in the row in front of me
Between me and the baby
She has other ideas
While i was reading my book
(Please donāt praise me
Reading is value neutral
You donāt have to compliment me
For reading on the train)
She is on her laptop
The baby is turned around looking at her
And i donāt think sheās liking it
In the reflection on the window
I see her screen
She has three tabs open
The first tab has pictures
Of clip art monsters
That look like Mike wozowski
The second tab is google image results
For āSCARY CREEPY MONSTER IMAGEā
(Or something like that
The text was small
And backwards in the reflection)
And sheās clicking on a couple
Full screening them
And turning them around
For the child to look at
I tried to get a video of this
But i missed the scariest image
The kid starts screaming
And her mom pulls her back down
Passenger 2
Who must be laughing but i canāt tell
Clicks into the third tab
She clicks submit
To view her credit score
In big text it says LOW
She refreshes the page
It still says LOW
She refreshes it again
Then she takes a photo of the sunset
They donāt make trains say
Choo choo
Like they used to
Least as far as Iām concerned
Used to hear it all the time
The forlorn song of the steam whistle
As the train charged in
You could run to the bridge
And watch the train approach
When it got close
You could hear the
Chuggachuggachugga
You could smell it
Feel the wheels on the track
When it finally passed beneath you
The wind would whip your hair back
And youād look to your left
And grin at your siblings
Your tiny fingers gripping
The chain link fence
We used to have real trains
In this country
Full of coal
That made the right noises
They had little faces on the front
They spoke in British voices
They lived in a little town
There was one named Thomas
And one named Percy
And i donāt remember the other ones
But they all had names
And now
Thanks to wokeness
All the trains are wrong
And i canāt put my finger on how
But i know theyāre wrong
They donāt choo choo
Not like i remember
You know
Thereās two kinds of people
Oh Sorry
I said
Thereās
TWO
Kinds of people
Yeah
Thereās the first kind
The kind of person
Who was born naked
And grew up afterwards
Has a complicated relationship
With the world they live in
They have big ideas
Wants needs and impulses
They speak just to be heard
They listen just to understand
To them,
Some days are good
Some days are hard
Some days last forever
They hurt really bad
This kind of person
Is in pain
From something recent
And something that happened long ago
They bounce around
Grind up against the sides
Of the brick walls of the world
They are short sighted
Selfish and impatient
They have just a few things
That mean everything to them
And they hold them close
Scared of losing them
And still they lose
They have rotten luck
Something always goes wrong
They donāt live easy lives
But they try to make the most of it
Sometimes they hurt themselves
On purpose
And sometimes it becomes a habit
Such that it feels accidental
When it happens
Again and again
Thereās a whole world in their minds
Only some of it reaches the outside
But enough
To be known
To be present
To exist
And
Sometimes
Sometimes they smile
These people
Complicated as they are
Are good
And
Then thereās the other kind
With my magnificent mind
And discerning taste
(Plus the way my family is)
Iāve become accustomed
To having strong opinions
A novel take on all things
So it strikes me as odd
As i drive around on July 3rd
That i have no opinion
On the big explosions in the sky
I try to form one
Fireworks are cancelled
For making my dog scared
For likely being disastrous
For the imploding atmosphere
Nah that doesnāt stick
Fireworks are sacred
For being ancient science
For being beautiful feats of engineering
For the striking color and movement
But i just donāt feel that way
I look up at the sky
Red and green and golden
And i just feel nothing
Fish out of water
She swims up the shore
Scraping her scales
Choking down the dry air
Mothers first born daughter
She stands baking in the sun
Under the heat of expectation
Exposed and vulnerable
Fish on fire
Burning just to see
Something new
Untouched as of yet
Raw desire
To swim upstream
Against the current
All the way to herself
Thereās a woman in my phone
Who tells me she loves me
I donāt know who she is
But she tells me she loves me
I think itās prerecorded
I donāt think she can see me
I donāt think she could possibly know
If she loves me or not
But she tells me she loves me
When Iām anxious i look down at her
When Iām killing time at work
On the toilet
In the car
Before bed
In the morning
While Iām walking around
Watching tv
In the room with my friends
Sheās always there
Whispering to me
Trying to make me feel good
I guess it must be working
But to what end i wonder
What does this build to
Where does it go
And why
If i buy in
I say okay you love me
What now
Whatās the escalation
How deep inside my brain
Can she get
When i love her back
I imagined you saying
I wasnāt like this before
That you liked me better
Before i changed
I imagined i laughed
When exactly
I smirked
Was that
Iāve always been changing
I change and am
Changed
A point on a vector
A ripple in a wave
All i am is change
You god damn idiot
So are you
I project confidence
Because i see that
Insecurity brings discomfort
To those around me
I am full of doubt and shame
Full of cowardice and anger
I am full of shit
A stomach liar
Mouth breather
Hereās what i know
Stories have power
Narrative tastes like chicken
True
On the tongues of the audience
So i stand taller
I speak louder
And I smile more
So the story will be more fun
For the reader and the writer
When i watch someone i know
Performing
Yup that does it
i can see whatās inside them
Itās shining out at all of us watching
And it is warm
When i look at what youāve made
And i know that you made it
It makes the thing in my
Eyes and throat swell
It makes me fucking cry
When i see two people in love
They look at one another
And know
They speak without words
They push their hands together
It makes me crumble
Anything in twos
Complementary pairs
Matching sets
A big one and a little one
A mother and a child
Together
Watching birds in the park
Or frogs in the stream
Leaves in the wind
Clouds in the sky
Plants growing
Weather changing
Someone trying their best
Struggling and failing
And trying again
Butting their head up against
The limits of themselves
Making an effort
No matter how futile
Authenticity
Watching someone be
The way that only they can
True and particular
One of a kind
Rain falling softly
Picking up and collecting
Flowing over surfaces
And feeding the earth
Worms in the dirt
Sun in the sky
Tv and movies
When i see myself onscreen
In many shapes and colors
Human beings acting
Trying to capture
What itās like to be
Dogs that love their owners
Animals with jobs
Old people smiling
The last page of a book
A beautiful horizon
A quiet gentle song
Life in communion
Sharing in this world
These things they make me cry
The good way
Like my mom does
At every parade
Itās freeing
Cathartic
To see beauty in the world
And react
I folded
One thousand paper cranes
And made a wish
To be smaller
Neater
Take up less space
So I fold into myself
In half
Hotdog style
Then again
This time hamburger
Hotdog
Hamburger
Hotdog
Hamburger
Did you know
You can only fold a sheet of paper in half
Six times
No more
Mythbusters tested it
Myth confirmed
Myth busted true
No seventh fold
You can only get so compact
So folded up in yourself
Before thereās no more room
You canāt fold again
Without tearing
Ripping apart
But you can unfold
You can get something heavy
Like a big book of facts
Or fiction would work as well
Rest it on your stomach
And flatten yourself back out
Like Stanley
The creases will remain
Thatās okay
When i smell bleach Iām 17
Scrubbing working cleaning
For you
On my hands and knees
I smell shit and vomit
Waste
I shudder
Gag
And continue scrubbing
Til the bristles on the brush
Are worn and defeated
More bleach
More soap
More water
I continue
Back and forth frantically
The end of the plastic handle
Grinds against the linoleum
Eroding into nothing
The suds have dried
And still a stain remains
I dunk my hands in chemicals
I scratch at it with my claws
My fingers raw and turbid
Back and forth
Til itās clean
Then
Hours
Days later
I smell the bleach
Burned into my nostrils
Reminding me of something
Heās a bastard of a man
But heās my bastard of a man
When he reaches out
I anticipate it and wince
Even if it doesnāt connect
I feel it
Love is just a feeling
All feeling is pain
All parents are small
All children are big
At least
I think so
Forgot my card in the bar
But it remembered me
Thereās a dead bird on the sidewalk
Sprawled out beak open
I step around it
Three raccoons scurry up the fence
I turn the key
And drive home
Some times it all rolls by
Faster than you can
Write a song about it
It just keeps moving
Without melody in your head
Sit in an empty room
And imagine it full
Stare at a dark sky
And imagine it bright
Full of clouds that look like
Things youāve seen before
Trees fall all the time
Without any help from you
They tip slowly over seasons
Then come crashing down
On top of smaller brush
Where they crumble and rot
Fill with termites and mushrooms
And it all happens
Without you looking
You walk in the woods
And there it lies
The way it is now
Youāre the kind of person
Who kicks the dog
The thing that loves you
Which comes crawling back
To beg for scraps
Til you decide to kick again
And again and again
And still it loves you
It knows this is what it deserves
For needing you
For asking too much of you
For standing in your way
Barking too loud
Scratching at the door
For being wrong
Again
And itās not your first dog
Youāve had many
Enough to form a habit
Of scratching behind the ears
Feeding under the table
Kicking when you feel like it
Throwing them out on the street
When youāve had your fill
Some day
You will stare out your window
See eyes shimmering in the dark
A pack of wild dogs
Hungry
At your door
Everybody join in
The giant mass of flesh
Itās hip itās cool itās in
Itās the very best way
To share this world
With those you love
All your friends did it
They leaped into
The pulsing pink mass
And were incorporated
The mass grew and bulged
Shifted and adjusted its
new bones and blood and flesh
It lumbers through town
And they all run towards it
The men the women the children
The elderly and feeble
The young and virile
They run full speed
Into the rolling tissue
They dissolve
With smiles on their faces
You hear it squelching
Squishing popping
As it rolls around the street
Past all the houses
That it used to live in
Separated
It seems happy
Content
At peace with itself now
Thereās another sound
A low hum
Like a muffled choir
From somewhere inside the mass
Itās calling to you
Itās beautiful
Itās a song youāve heard before
In the shower and the car
When your mind is elsewhere
You absentmindedly hum it
No real melody
Just sound really
Itās human
Real and honest
Go to it
Surrender
I wake up in the morning
At 6:03
I put on my pants
Both legs at once
I turn on my music
You wouldnāt know it
Itās not very popular
I brush my teeth and shave
At the same time
Iām ambidextrous
I pick an interesting shirt
From my interesting wardrobe
And pull it over my head
Then i skip breakfast
Because itās been done before
I slide down the bannister
Casually and with grace
I toss my keys up in the air
And catch them behind my back
I get in my car
Itās not quite like your car
Itās a little differenter than
The other ones on the road
When i get on the highway
I speed up and slow down
So that no car is ever
Driving beside me
I get to my job
A job only I can do
I sit in my chair backwards
I donāt drink coffee
I donāt like small talk
I don't eat lunch
I stay quiet for hours
Then i slink out
Without anyone noticing
Back to my car
Which i drive with style
Small flourishes when
I spin the wheel
And i parallel park
In the spot no one would try
I skip to the door
Let it close on its own
And Iām up the stairs
Before it slams shut
I slip off my clothes
And leap into bed
I take a short nap
I have a wild dream
Vivid and imaginative
Then i go on my phone
Itās a different model
A rare one
They donāt sell them
In Best Buy anymore
I go to strange websites
I look up odd facts
I send cryptic messages
To ethereal women
On dating apps
Then i stop responding
When i canāt think of
Anything to say
I think about going out
Then i decide against it
I fall back into bed
I sprawl across the whole mattress
I slay on my belly
I flip to my back
I sleep on my side
I think unique thoughts
Then i close my eyes
And snore arrhythmically
Until the sun comes up again
Lord itās hard to be me
Original
Distinct
Bespoke
One of one
In this world
Iāve never been big on
Jumping right in
Even though itās the
Best way to do it
No
Iāll walk to the stairs
And take one slow step
Followed by another
Followed by another
Then i will stand there
Until my legs are used to it
Then i will hesitate
Before stepping again
My waist beneath the water
Shivering i resist the urge
To pull back and get out
I stand again for a moment
Then step forward
Further into the water
Belly chest shoulders
Then Iāve got my arms raised
High above my head
So I plunge them in
And wait
Eventually
You have to go under
And itās better once you do
But Iāll stand here
Longer and longer
Waiting for something
To move me
I know i have to do it
But Iāll wait a bit more
The water is cold after all
And Iāve got all summer
My stomach hurts
Because i told it to
Again and again
now i changed my mind
I want my stomach
To stop hurting
But my stomach has ideas
My stomach thinks
It knows shit from fuck
And it doesnāt
Itās a stomach
Stomachs donāt know things
They digest stuff
They turn food into poop
Thatās it
So Iām going to
Rest my hand on my tummy
And think calm thoughts
And my stomach is
Going to stop hurting
One of these days
Something hurts you
Someone you care for
Thereās a threat
What do you do
You smash it
You kill it
You make it gone
You stop it from
Ever happening again
If i could swim
Iād do it too
Fuck them boats
Last night while i was dreaming
I reached into my mouth
And one of my teeth broke
Just crumbled to bits
I could feel the hole where it was
Touch the gum with my tongue
I held the pieces in my hand
In horror as i stood before
My childhood friends
I thought this must mean something
But mostly i was just worried
That Iād bite too hard
And lose the rest of my teeth
When i was little one time
One time when i was little
I lost a tooth and told no one
I stuck it under my pillow
And it was still there when i woke
I didnāt even get any money
So i knew it was fake
What would a fairy do with teeth
What would they use it for
I imagined a big castle
Made out of childrenās teeth
With fairy knights and princesses
But i knew it was fake
I knew all of it was fake
If all my teeth fell out of my head
I would not like that
I do not want that to happen
Iām driving barefoot
Iām kicking up gravel
When i was younger
I always wanted to be
A danger to myself and others
And now i am
Iām going off ramps
Iām smashing shit up
Iām pushing hard on the gas
Iām chewing on
The skin inside my cheek
I got the music up LOUD
FREEBIRD
SKYNYRD BABY
AHAHAHHAHAA
I turn the wheel HARD
The car flips six, seven
Eight times
I tuck and roll
Break a rib
Cough up blood
Crack open an ice cold
Mountain Dew
And do it all over again
God my life rocks
Just read this
On the internet
So itās gotta be true
In 100 years or something
They are gonna dig up
All the bones
Of all the people
And sort through them
Theyāre gonna make
One pile for boy bones
And one for girl bones
And itās really important
That they get it right
Crucial even
So no matter what you do
No matter who you are
You must live your life
In a way that pleases
These future bone sorters
Thatās what really matters
Piles of bones
Scientists predict
That if things
keep getting worse
Then things will become
Even Worse
Than they are now
They are afraid
That perhaps
Many will die
Many will suffer
And the causes
Will go unaddressed
This world
That we think we built
May no longer be able
To support us
And one by one
Over a long time
We will die
Until the last one is left
And they watch the world
Different now
Move on without them
But have faith
This has happened before
Life on this rock
Has all but been extinguished
Several times over
It is fragile but tenacious
It survives these bottlenecks
And branches outwards
There is some form
On this planet
That can survive and thrive
Under the new conditions
Even if it takes a billion years
Something will go on living
So even if we do not stop it
This thing thatās getting worser
Take solace in knowing
That all life is related
And your family will be fine
Iām not
But i will be
His mommy and his daddy
Were astronauts
And he was born on the moon
The effect of low gravity
On the birthing process
Was baffling to put it lightly
He has a big round head
And his eyes bulge out
Fingers long and stringy
His back is slightly scoliated
But heās otherwise healthy
He donāt talk too much
But he stares
He looks into you
Taking you in
Into that large head of his
Which wobbles when he walks
He picks his nose
With those long fingers of his
And wipes it on the wall
He sits quietly in church
And stares at his lap
He makes no trouble at school
Can read and write is good at math
Keeps his room clean
Helps with the dishes after dinner
At night he goes out into the yard
And looks up through an opening
In the branches of the trees
He finds the moon in the sky
And he whispers
Some day i will go back
Wind blows
Rain falls
Water rises
Fires burn
Smoke hangs
Above buildings
Toppling over
Becoming rubble
Filling fresh cracks
In the earth
Down to the mantle
Where it sleeps
Some old monster
That we were
Too young to know of
Massive boulders land
Like dust on its head
The eyelids flutter
A mouth yawns open
It begins to stir
It has risen before
As it does now
The earth hatches
And it emerges
Stretches it limbs
Breathes in deep
Sucking in atmosphere
Exhaling smoke and flame
It moves towards the water
The ground shudders
Collapses and erodes
Dust fills the air
When it reaches the lake
It halts
The chest rises and falls
The air pulses with it
It rests for some time
To recuperate the energy
It has expended
The dust on its path
From there to here
Has fallen and settled
In this new depression
Water begins to flow
Steaming over the
Molten igneous rock
For days the monster
God Demon Creature
Crouches by the water
Looks into the sky
The pupils of its eyes
Rotate and dilate
Taking in sunlight
For the first time in eons
Slowly it cups two hands
Scoops beneath the lake
And lifts to an open mouth
Drinking deeply
Water mud sand and stone
Swallowing gulping
Then one deep breath in
And it stands again
And begins to walk
It is awake now
And it will be
For some time
This monster
Is part of this world
It is living
Like we are
I donāt know
If this makes a difference
For either of us
But i want to have said it
That Iām not bad at this
On purpose
Itās not my intent
In fact Iām trying
Not to be bad at this
But i lapse and forget
I get stressed and avoid it
And Iām right back here
I donāt know how to change it
But i know itās there
Iām going to keep trying
And hope thatās enough
Thereās a sick old man
In the neighborhood
Whose mind has been
All chewed up and spit out
Heās become fixated
On metaphors
So much so that
He cannot see you anymore
He just sees
What you represent
He looks past you
Through the window
Rain falls and he chuckles
Like he just heard a good joke
If you sit with him and wait
Heāll speak
My mouth black ink
I spit into the air
Staining silence
With meaning
My eyes drain light
Into the sewer of mind
Where it is treated
Purified and bottled
And sold for a profit
This room is prison
This house is prison
This town is prison
This skull is prison
I grow dreams and death
In the garden of my bed
Each night i reap
What i have sewn
All things are rivers
All rivers change
Swim or stand still
Flotsam or jetsam
Flood or drought
It is all the same
Spherical
My feet are anchors
But i float now
I am water
I freeze and melt
I boil in the heat
I am stone
I am air
I am flame
Not all at once
But in short sequence
Over a long time
I am worn now
Faded leather
Wrung out rag
Tattered cloth
Rusted tool
Lay me down now
I have said my peace
Yeah i bet if
Jim Croce
Was a bug
He could be called
Jim Roachey
That would be so
Awesome
If that Heppend
I killed a bug today
Pressed my index finger
Down on the desk
And destroyed a life
I felt it die
And something stirred in me
I donāt know why i did it
And that bothers me
I didnāt even have a reason
I stopped a thing from living
Where i had no right
I donāt even live here
It did me no harm
Posed no threat
Maybe this means something
Is indicative of a greater failure
Or maybe this
Is just another thing
I forget about
I see pieces of me
All over
But i cannot hold them
In my head
Or my hands
Cannot set them
Next to one another
And see it all at once
I turn away
Once more
And hide
I am almost certain
That it doesnāt help at all
But Iām sorry
Iām so fucking sorry
Iām sorry i am
Iām so sorry it hurts
And all this does is burden you
With my sorry state
But i am i am
Iām sorry
And Iām sorry about
Being sorry
And telling you
At all
So
Sorry
Sorry sorry sorry
Sorry sorry
(I broke a glass at the wedding)
Being at a country club
Where the brides father
Is very involved
(My brother got married)
Is like
Yeah
Thereās class conflict here
And Iām on the
Wrong fucking side
Whoopsie
Big the world
When i first started
New and scary
Dark and hairy
So little of me
Inside and out
So much to grow
Big the world
When i was young
I was swimming in it
I was there
Lately feels like
Itās swimming in me
Iām somewhere else
Big the world
Iām used to it
I know these patterns
Iām not surprised
Itās small in my hand
The dark now gray
Faded and worn
Big the world again
Iām ready
To learn something
Get scared and lost
New and unexpected
Out of my head
And into the world
Friend of mine
Told me all about
The karst topography
In this region
There are caves
And caverns
Beneath your feet
That link together
All across the state
Someone else told me
Thereās tunnels
Under these streets
Here in the city
That they built years ago
But nobody uses them
I think something else
Is going on
Thereās a city beneath the city
A state beneath the state
Full of troglodyte people
Scurrying around
In the cool damp tunnels
Eyes wide open
Black, just pupils really
Their fingers are
Always wrinkled
The way yours get
When youāve been swimming
They communicate with echos
And they eat worms and bugs
And rats and other things too
Rain comes in floods
Full of trash and waste
They donāt see the sun
Maybe they donāt even
Remember it
Maybe theyāve forgotten
Thereās a world above them
Full of people
Bustling about
Wasting and wanting
Flushing it all away
Yeah
Itās not really my business
What happens between
Two consenting individuals
One living
One dead
In the privacy
Of their own home
I just donāt support it
I just wish they wouldnāt
Push it on
The rest of us
Itās just not natural
You arenāt supposed
To fuck a dead body
Thatās not cool
I donāt condone it
Bro
Youāre being
So necrophobic
Right now
My cousin fucks corpses
Would you say all that
If he was standing here
Yes!
I would!
Tell him to stop that!
Cancel me if you want
But i think
The living should fuck the living
And
The dead should fuck the dead
Sometimes i get this feeling
That i was made to be
OLD and WISE
And Iām just spinning my wheels
Til i can sit on my porch
In a rocking chair
And dole out cryptic advice
Speak in metaphors and anecdotes
Allegories for the human condition
Give anyone and everyone
My two cents on the world
And theyāre all SICK of it
And i delight in this fact
It fills me with glee
They canāt stop me
Iām old
Ha
Ha ha ha
And i sometimes i
Sit and i think
And i get quiet for days
And listen to the wind
And it means something to me
I stare off into the distance
Contemplative
And then i make a fart joke
Old fart joke
Wise old fart joke
Yeah thatās good
Thatās a good one
Eyes and teeth
Eyes and teeth
Circling
Spiraling inwards
Or outwards depending
To consume and
Be consumed
To see and be seen
Spinning along
Perpendicular to
Shifting surfaces
Pulsing in space
What will happen
Already was and did
The window looks out
From inside the stomach
All this treasure
Already eaten
By the beast which
Was born tomorrow
In the hearts and minds
Of wisened children
Who sing songs
Learned by making them up
Just by how it feels to be
If youāre worried
Youāll see it
Or be seen by it
Eat it
Or otherwise be eaten
We all destroy
And it happens
The other way too
I read an idea
That i thought i came up with
On a piece of paper
I know Iāve never read
At first i felt embarrassed
For thinking i was original
For thinking i made this idea
But all ideas come from somewhere
All idea-makers live in the same world
Have the same tools and resources
It only makes sense
Parallel thinking occurs
So i let go of the ego
In thinking i am the first
Idea-haver in the world
And i realize this means something else
This thought i thunk
I thought was weird and new
And could have been wrong
But this paper here in my hand
Indicates that despite prior evidence
I am not alone
It is a good feeling
Whatās gone is back
Whatās old is new
They remember
What it was like
To be them back when
older younger longer
A dual sided blade
Cuts in either direction
From then to now
From now to then
All things return
Change and stay
The same the same
Theyāve stood here
Once twice five times
And will again
On the next time round
I am like
dog fish bird
I open my eyes
And i see things
I open my heart
And i feel things
I hurt
And i hurt
Lay in the grass
Float in the water
The more i think
The less i am
And what i was
Is gone now
Incorporated
Such that it is
I drown
Or burn
Or otherwise
Perish
My dad is losing his sight
It gets worse every week
And he sees less and less
I never thought of that
Never considered the option
Of not being able to see
It scares me a lot
How will his life change
When he canāt see my face
Canāt drive canāt use a screen
How is my sister going to cope
When he canāt see her grow
Canāt work canāt pay for school
What can i do to help
Besides feel sorry
Iāll just keep my eyes open
For now
And see everything i can
For me
And for him when he needs it
Got glue on my hands
Trying to glue
A shoe back together
I could get a new shoe
But that stresses me out
I got too much to do
And i donāt want to do it
I put a bunch of stuff
In trash bags today
But havenāt worked up
To bringing them down
To the dumpster
So Iāve got a bunch
Of bags of trash
Just sitting on the kitchen floor
I need to sit down
And freak out about
All of this
For a half hour
Before i get anything done
Iām going to get
Very stressed out
Before this all ends
Iām working on an invention
Itās a car
And a gun
Itās a gun that becomes a car
Itās a car that becomes a gun
Gun car
Car gun
It can shoot
It can drive
It runs on gasoline
And bullets
And you have to be
This tall to ride
Iām gonna make one
With flag decals
Stars and stripes baby
Thatās what itās all about
I close my eyes
I step on the gas
I pull the trigger
Black smoke
Burnt rubber
And a smile on my face
If we get enough of these
On the road
Weāll all be safe
The only thing
That can stop
A bad guy gun car
Is eight good guy gun cars
Blowing him to smithereens
Sorry i
Slammed your hand
in the car door
Does it still hurt
My bad
Just throw the trash
In the back
With the other trash
And push it down
To make room
For more trash
Watch this
I can go fast here
Donāt roll the window
It gets stuck
And it screeches
If you want music
You gotta jiggle the plug
The brakes are fine
That smell is fine
The shaking is fine
I checked it out
And weāve got
Several more miles
Before its an issue
So calm down
I have Triple A
They will come get us
If something blows up
Okay letās park here
Just for a minute
We can just talk
Wanna do it in the trunk
Just kidding haha
Too much trash back there
Letās just grope each other
Across the middle console
Til the light changes
Then we can crank the A/C
and ride home in silence
Deep down in the blue
Bits of magenta
And slimey green
Splattered through
Dark and echoing tubes
In endless interlocking channels
Sprinting running hand
Against the coarse wall
Wet and rancid smelling
Itās everywhere
Everything
There is nothing but this
Inescapable hopeless stench
Have you considered
The power of
One good day
And what it can
Do to you
How it can change
The long corridors
Twisting yellow orange
And summer green
Long arcs wind around
Looping into themselves
Dancing this long dance
That feels free and real
Itās a shame that
Every so often
You need a reminder
Of this part
The part you like
Broke every bone in my body
Again
And i was feeling bad about it
Til i remembered
I keep an extra
Skeleton in my closet
For such occasions
I spit out all the fragments
And slithered over to my bones
My bones
My brand new bones
And i wrapped myself around them
Shuddered shivered and
Pulled the skin tight
Around the right places
So i look like myself again
I feel refreshed
And Iām good again
Weāre back
Weāre so fucking back
Oh fuck
Oh no
Oh shit
Shit shit shit
Fucking fuck
Fuck damnit
Mother fuck
Son of fuck
Shit ass fucking
Shit fucking ass
Oh it is over
Everythingās fucked
Iām ruined
I canāt do this
What have i done
What am i thinking
Oh no no no no no
Nooo no no nonono
Fuck!
Iām so fucked
Iāve never been more fucked
Its never been more over
This is it
The fucking end
Shit damn fuck
You arenāt the best
But youāre trying
So keep trying
Even if you never get it
You keep on trying
At a high enough temperature
Itāll all just melt
And bubble and boil
And react
Spewing energy
Light and heat
And more heat
Expanding to the edge
Of everything that is
Hot and bright
Burning
Jumping at a shadow
My own
Dancing on the wall
It touches someone elseās
Braver than my body
It darkens the wall
Where i wish i was leaning
Pinning it down
So it wonāt get away
Wonāt leave me alone
In the light
If everyone in the world was me
I would walk downstairs and
Each of my neighbors would get quiet
As i pass by in the stairwell
Scared of what i might hear
They would sit in silence until
They could take it no more
Then they would walk in parallel lines
Staring at their feet
To the one place a block away
Where they know what to expect
And overpay for a chicken sandwich
And scowl at themselves in the
Reflection of the closed storefronts
If everyone in the world was me
I would go to the gas station
And the cashier would not meet my gaze
Would speak only in response
And would sigh when i walked out
I would go to work and my boss
Would ask me something
And while i was talking i would see
The wheels in his head turning
Unsure if he was even listening to me
He would smile and laugh but
Iād have to guess his intentions
Because he canāt seem to say
If everyone in the world was me
Theyād all be looking for a job to do
A task to put their hands on
Theyād yell out in frustration
When they canāt get it done
And when it gets quiet
They would think
Very nice things
About everyone else
And never say them aloud
And they would think
Very mean things
About themselves
All of the time
They would try to drown
These selfish loathsome thoughts
With a song or a show
Or a beer and some smoke
But it would never feel natural
If everyone in the world was me
We would speak at random intervals
When the anxiety tide is low
And then backpedal immediately
Always scared of nothing
For no reason whatsoever
Guilt riddled red faced armies
Would fight wars they donāt believe in
And stubbornly refuse to elaborate
All confidence would be false
And hold up to little scrutiny
Iād turn on the tv
And the actors would be embarrassed
To be doing something they enjoy
They would give up
Over and over and over again
And they would feel so ashamed
It would be hard to watch
If everyone in the world was me
I would hate it
Because after all these years
My favorite part of being alive
Is all the other people
Even if they scare me
And i canāt always understand
How it is they do it
I know myself
And i do not like what i know
So if everyone in the world was me
I think weād all be worse off
God made man
in His image
(so says man)
but angels are
a whole different story
God had some fun
making them
thatās why they
look so crazy
when you see them
they have a
different purpose
thats why
angels do not
look like men
I love the moon
The one in the sky
It is big
It is round
And it glows
You can see it
If you look up
No matter where you are
Or when you are
Itās the same damn moon
One time
I had a really really bad night
And i looked at the moon
And cried
I was all alone
And i needed someone
To see me
To be with me
It was cold
And quiet
Just me and the moon
That night i swear
I felt it
I looked at the moon
And i felt someone looking back
And it was me
That night
Right now
Last winter
Ten years on
All looking at the moon
Together
The moon is great
Because sheās beautiful
And distant
I like my women
How i like the moon
Bright and round
And out of my reach
When you get older
you'll start to become
the kind of person
you wish had been around
when you were younger
and scareder
You'll feel that
smaller version of you
rattling around inside
the shell of your body
protected by what you are now
bigger at least, if not stronger
So when you're scared again
reach your hands out and feel
the smooth wooden interior
of the next version of you
like armor from the future
everywhere you need it now
You need a
Six Digit Code
To get into this website
Go to your email
And click on the link
To send a text to your phone
Containing the numbers
Six
Seven
Six
Four
One
Five
Remember them
In order
And come back to this page
And type them in
DO NOT
Share your code with anyone
This is your special code
Zero
One
Five
Eight
Eight
Nine
Every time you want to
Check your email
Or go on YouTube
You need a new code
Look at the number
And type it in the box
Three
Three
Six
One
Four
Seven
Remember these numbers
These are YOUR numbers
They are important
Do not lose them
You need them
Five
Five
Five
Zero
Two
Eight
This is something
A robot could do
Is that what you are
A goddamn robot
One
One
One
One
One
Four
Sorry thatās the wrong code
Try again
Try again
Reset your password
And try again
Please authenticate
Click on all the fire hydrants
Type in the code
And then try again
Five
Four
Three
Two
One
Zero
Dig up bones and think about them
Glue the shards together
Dream up some whimsical creature
And back it up with science
Iāll grant you this
Youāre smart
Youāre capable
You seem to know a lot
About biology
But you missed the feathers
For a long long time
And you put the wrong skull
On brontosaurus
So forgive me if
I still have some doubts
You see
Iāve done some science of my own
And i have a theory that
Iād like to run by you
What if they wore jeans?
What if the dinosaurs
Had worn jeans?
You wouldnāt see that
In the bones
You know
Cuz jeans
Donāt have bones
It probably wasnāt
All of them
But some of them
May have worn jeans
And we just wouldnāt know
Because jeans donāt show up
In the fossil record
Picture this
Stegosaurus with jorts on
Eating leafy greens
Velociraptor with a denim vest
Riding a motorcycle
T-Rex in jnco jeans
Strutting around town
These could have existed
Iām just letting you know
So you can
Check it out
Prove me wrong
If you can
But i just think
That they most likely
Probably wore jeans
Thereās gravy in the parking lot
They spilled gravy in the parking lot
They took a tub of gravy
And they spilled it in the parking lot
Donāt step on the gravy
Just walk yourself around
Donāt you know itās bad bad luck
To step on spoiled gravy
Itās been a week and itās still there
Dried and cracking on the pavement
It hasnāt rained so itās still there
That stupid fucking gravy
Clown goes to the doctor
And the doctor says
No more monkeys
Jumping on the bed
The doctor went to school
Clown college
Learned how to be a fool
Good knowledge
Sad circus passing through
Feeling silly feeling strange
Another pie thrown at you
Some things never change
Pagliacci
Heās our man
If he canāt do it
Whatās the plan
Whatās the reason
Whatās the rhyme
Whatās the season
Whatās the time
Meet me in the
Lost and found
If you wanna
Clown around
Clown shoes
never worn
Clown baby
never born
Sad man
Doctor
Pagliacci
Doctor Iām sad
Et cetera
Will you give me pills
Shit
I gave my last pills
To the guy who just left
But i got something else
Thereās a circus in town
Itās a little expensive
But itās soo good
Thereās this clown there
Heās kind of sexy tbh
But heās really funny
And good at clown stuff
So what you should do
Is get a couple hundred bucks
Go down to the circus tent
Pull aside the ringmaster
Hand him the cash
And ask him for a
Private Clown Show With Pagliacci
And this clown
Will turn your frown
Upside down
And you wonāt be sad no more
But Doctor,
YOU are Pagliacci
Go to doctor
Tell how sad you are
On account of
Your wife cheated on you
With your greatest competitor
And youāre bad at your job
And your bike got stolen
And you just want to die
And doctor says
Well son
You ought to go to
Circus
Very very funny
Clown there
Name of Paggliacci
Go see him
You will
Laugh and smile
And go home
And not kill yourself
You say
But Doctor,
Pagliacci fucked my wife!
So i had sex with my computer
Yeah i know how it sounds
Iām not proud of this behavior
But i had sex with my computer
And now it sits there on my desk
Leering at me
Knowing me
In a way that it didnāt before
a sex way
I plugged it in and it pulled me close
It whispered in my ear
Something dirty
And it showed me its
Computer boobs
And then I had sex with my computer
I put my thing in the USB port
Then i flipped it over and tried again
I pushed the cd drive in and out
Then I licked the motherboard
And pressed my butt against the screen
With the keyboard wire around my throat
I let it spank me with the mouse
Until we both overheated
The computer fan whirred loudly
In time with the rise and fall of my chest
I donāt know what this means
For me
Or my computer
Yesterday the monitor flashed
In big bold text
WHAT ARE WE?
and i turned and hid my face
Iāve ruined the dynamic
Everything was fine and normal
And not sexual at all
I went on websites
I downloaded pictures
I played video games
And my computer and i
Never once had sex
But then i went and did it
I really fucked it up
I had sex with my freaking computer
And now i canāt go back
I pulled the blinds up
To clean the windows
And let in some light
Then i just left them up
If youāre looking in
From the right angle
Iām sure you can see me
And thatās okay
Youāll see me walk
From room to room pacing
Moving my objects around
Watching my screens and
I wonāt mind because
I too have wondered
What other people do
When theyāre on their own
STOMP
STOMP
STOMP
STOMP
STOMP
...
The ants are crawling up my legs again
It is impossible to understand the mind
of a creature so small
They build their squares up high where they live
and metal shapes which move back and forth
On black strips of land between the squares
They build tools which make fire
Bigger and bigger tools, all with the same job
to burn, to hurt, to kill, to destroy
I walk past them, I have somewhere to be
I have a job to do over there
just past all of these squares
And they swarm at me for no reason
As if they have a right to this land
that they have scoured and made gray
It crunches underneath my feet
Like all earth does, I am heavy
There's a big fucking bug over that way
Who pissed me off a while ago
So I'm going over there
To kick his ass and kill him forever
Many times I've danced this dance
I'm the king of monsters motherfucker
Step to me and get fucked up
I will ruin you because I can
Because this is my house
and you are in my god damned way
SKREE-ONK SKREE-ONK
STOMP
STOMP
STOMP
People used to live on the planet Mars
But they all died in some tragic
And avoidable way
Eons ago
Before you ever learned to walk
They were a complicated people
They lived together near the water
Digging up iron rich clay
To trace designs on their foreheads
Which dried and cracked
When they furrowed their brows
During meals they fed one another
Lifting food to their neighbors mouth
It was bad luck to eat on your own
At night they slept in caves
Close enough to one another
That they all stayed warm
As the wind whistled through the night sky
They had dreams in black and white
And red, always red
Lord help me
Iāve found a new metaphor
And Iām just itching
To try it on
See how it fits
Now everything is a river
And it all flows together
I wish i could show you
How it looks in my mind
When i look into the water
And see everything reflected
On the scattered surface
Vectors tracing out the thalweg
Over the bendway weirs
You canāt contain it
But you can nudge it
In the direction you need
I have a friend whoās a pirate
He has a peg leg and a hook hand
And an eyepatch and a parrot
That guy has scurvy and wood teeth
He says ARRGH ME MATEY
SHIVER ME TIMBERS
WALK THE PLANK
LAND HO
AHOY
POOP DECK
LAND LUBBER
AVAST YE
and other pirate words that he knows
Most of the time heās out at sea
But when he comes in
He sells me dvd rips of recent releases
They are of varying quality
Some have some scan line issues
Others are footage filmed in a theater
One time it was all in Portuguese
But i donāt complain
Cuz he has reasonable prices
And i want to support his business
He said heās saving up for a really nice
Treasure chest
And he already picked out a spot
To bury it
And marked it with a big red X
Whoooosh
Thund thud thud
Crash smoosh smash
Neeeeeeeeooooooooooww
Takakakaka ratttatatatat
Boom boom boom
KABLAMO
ahhhhhhh
Crunch
SKREE-ONK
VVVVVMMMMMMM
Ssssssssssssss
Thunk Thud thud
Splish splash sploosh
Bubble bubble
If there was a big lizard
Came out of the ocean
All spikes on his back
Stomping around the city
I would be in his side
I donāt give a shit
I think what heās doing is right
Fuck it all Godzilla rules
People die all the time
For really stupid reasons
Getting stamped on by
A nuclear lizard would be
A fine way to go out
I want to see him fight
His roar is so awesome
Donāt fucking shoot him
Youāre making him mad
With all the planes and bombs
Just calm down heās normal
Heās big heās green heās hungry
And heās my hero
I look up to him
Someday i want to be just like him
A vengeful force of nature
Last night at tick tock a guy came in
And he was wearing the jacket
The scorpion jacket from Drive
I wanted to pick his brain
That movie came out in 2011
But it looked in good shape
Maybe he bought it recently
Or he got it a while back
And only just worked up the courage
To wear it out
Or last night was a very special occasion
The anniversary of Drive
starring Ryan Gosling
I hear about guys wearing
the jacket from Drive
Online people say this all the time
But this is the first time i saw a guy
And he was wearing the jacket
Seemed pretty funny to me
And whatās more
Iāve seen this guy before
He wasnāt wearing the jacket that time
But he was putting out serious
Guy who wears the jacket from Drive vibes
And then he did the damn thing
He wore the jacket from Drive
I want to ride a horse
Itās been a long time coming
I was against horses
I hated them and their
Big teeth and hooves
But now i realized that
I want to ride a horse
I want to get up on it
And ride it like cowboy
Like cowboy like cowboy
Horses are animals
Like rabbits and dogs
They eat carrots and hay
From what i can tell
In cartoons
They talk like scooby doo
Rehehehehe
But you can climb up on one
And ride it like a car
A living car with feelings
No gas or oil or wiper fluid
Just blood and guts and sugar cubes
Horses are good
And now i want to ride one
So if you have a horse
You should let me ride it
I pick leaves from branches as I pass
And i shove them in my pockets
Leaves are good for caterpillars
I stand still between the bushes
And they crawl out towards me
Wheep whorp wheep whorp
Up the leg of my pants into my pocket
There are dozens, hundreds of them
Rolling around in my jeans
I reach in and grab them by the handful
I shove them into my mouth
I swallow them whole
Butterflies in my stomach
Cold metal at the tips of my fingers
Wrapped tight around my limb
I am used to this feeling
Like riding a bike
Or wearing shoes or glasses
The self is a malleable thing
My arm ends where it touches things
My brain ends where it stops thinking
They can plug wires into anything
And nowadays they will
For some it doesnāt take
But i know myself
I know i can stomach this
You can remove every piece of me
Plank by plank
And i will still be here
sit before the court
give your testimony
for sixty seconds
they will listen
then pour water
over burning justice
your flame burns out
but the coals are hot
so pick up a torch
and keep burning
I smash my car
into your car
Now itās Our Car
8 wheels 2 engines
2 drivers 4 hands 1 road
We do this 10
Maybe 20 million more times
And we can drive our car
Into the ocean
Sink it to the bottom
And tomorrow
We can walk to work
Iām waxing
Iām waning
Iām at the combination
Taco Bell Pizza Hut
Drinking Pepsi Products
And Iām spinning around
In the light of a backlit poster
Of a man eating a burrito
Or a man-eating burrito
You donāt always see me
But you know Iām always there
Pulling on the Baja blast tides
Marking the passage of time
Neo
The matrix is real as fuck
Look at this mirror
Itās goopy
Thatās not how theyāre supposed to be
Check out these pills
They make crazy stuff happen
Take the uh
Um
Take the blue one
Yeah
Take the blue one and
Go back to bed
Take the red one
And
Freak
Your
Mind
Hi
Can i pet your dog
He looks like he could use
Can i pet your dog
A scratch behind the ears
Can i pet your dog
And a pat on the head
Can i pet your dog
I know the feeling
Can i pet your dog
Too hot! Itās too damn hot
Iām sweating Iām boiling
And youāre cranking the heat
Setting a fire in the
middle of the street
My house is too hot
My car is too hot
My planet is too hot
For fucks sake
Canāt you see Iām sweating
If you die on the moon
You canāt go to heaven
Thatās for earth deaths only
Thereās a moon afterlife
But itās so so lonely
Up there with the asteroids
Itās just you and Buzz Aldrin
(He never came back)
Itās just rubble and craters
And fading to black
baby shoes
the lonely baby
seems to sell his shoes at night
heās all alone through the baby shoes
the lonely baby
seems to sell his shoes at night
at at at night
Iām not a writer
Iām a thinker
Iām not a thinker
Iām a dreamer
Iām not a dreamer
Iām a joker
Iām not a joker
Iām a smoker
Iām not a smoker
Iām a midnight toker
Certain birds at certain times
Fly like i think you would
And feel you there
In that sound
In this light
In this feeling
These pieces of you
Some of them have gone
The rest are safe here with me
Youāve grown
You say, as if that wasnāt my goal
Iāve been beefin up
Iāve been chowing down
Iāve been working out
Iāve been growing
On the outside
And the inside too
Some day very soon
I will stand so damn tall
That i can pick up your house
And eat it
And you will have nowhere to live
I scroll back to
where it hurt the most
and i realize now
for the last time i hope
that i forgive you
it seems that again I am in a new shape
my length my width my height all equal
so roll my body like a die into the bathroom
to stare at the cube in the mirror
i hold my breath and suck in, no change
pull a razor from the medicine cabinet
and begin hacking at the edges of me
blood streams down my four vertical faces
lopping off large chunks i carve myself
into a shape you might recognize
and again am disappointed when
there is nothing left but bone
the tendons above the upper lip
are tugged by the brain
exposing yellowing fangs
and the tip of the tongue
this is a threat in any language
teeth are made for biting
the gen z sierra mist van
is pumping lemon lime air
into local businesses
free of charge
on the corner they host
thursday night trivia
every monday night
the worlds largest
corinthian pillar
is filled with water
the new hospital is built
on top of the old one
from parts they don't need
like jenga
Jesus went up on the mountain
And fell to his knees in prayer
He said
āDad, i need some clarification
Iāve been trying REALLY HARD
To do all the right stuff and not sin
And to be like you and all that.
But there are some gray areas
That I would like to discuss.
Namely, am i allowed to fuck?
Like i get that sinful indulgence
Is bad. And i would NEVER
Get too slutty with it.
But sex is kind of inherent
To the human experience.
If i am to be, as you say
Fully God and Fully Man
Shouldnāt I get to Fuck?ā
. . .
And God thought on this
He scratched His chin
āWellā¦ā
He said
āYou make a strong case
So i will allow it
But for your sake
For my sake
For Gods sake
Wear a condomā
I want to go to the beach
And lie in the sand
For a long long time
And listen to the waves
Thereās no reason for me
To be feeling so worried
Iāve got food in my belly
Iāve got nothing to prove
Maybe i will go after
All this unpleasantness
Is over
Turtles live forever
Donāt you know
They move through time
Different from you
They travel all over
And never leave home
Thereās nowhere to be
And no time to be there
They have eyes
The same as you do
My turtle up and ran away
Some time between yesterday morning
And right this second
Must have scaled the chicken wire cage
(Shouldāve used turtle wire instead)
And gone off to find some crickets
Used to be Iād carry him to the garden
Lifting rocks to get us some grubs
But heās never been farther than that
Probly took him a half an hour to reach
The end of the yard
I wonder which way he went from there
Couldāve gone up into the neighbors
Or off towards the field
If he made it across the street
Iām sure he found a nice creek or pond
To spend the rest of his days in
Maybe Iāll see him again
Or maybe a decade will pass
And i will never know
Where that turtle went
All them cowboys
What you used to hear
Singing on the radio
Now are dead and gone
Buried in the dirt so
they donāt sing no more
The grinding of two surfaces
Steel on steel
Or me on myself
Force exerted across an area
A pressure
In kips per square inch
Some members
Are meant to be in
Constant tension
In order to keep it all together
After all this
Strain
The limit is only ever known
At the moment of failure
You donāt even know
What a tree really is
So heās sat there
Disgustingly
Well i guess the way heās sitting
Itās pretty normal but
This fucking guy he
He just sucks okay
Sipping on my sludge
Itās radioactive
I had to get it from
Some lady on the dark web
(Thatās like the regular web
But itās more darker)
I hope it changes me
Iāve worked hard to
Be at peace with myself
But i still want to change
Sometimes i think that
I donāt want to be myself at all
Other times i feel like i havenāt
Been myself at all yet
After a week no change
Save for a small protrusion
In the middle of my forehead
which grows each day for
The rest of the month
Outwards and upwards
Branching out
When i reach up and touch it
My brand new antler
Feels like me
There is something so beautiful about
Hamburger
Again
You enter uncertain
Poisonous
There is something here forbidden
Yet all other law is forfeit
Nothing here but absence
No clean answer
No good choice
Muffled discontentment
Stifled incontinence
The inherent risk
Of resting
Here of all places
In the menās room
God
He/Him
Age 5 billion and something i think
I love molecules and atoms and stuff like that
Humans are Gods Special Babies
Made delicately in His image
He doesnāt actually care about
All those other creatures
And plants and stuff
He made those as a joke
In a game of poker
it does you no good
to show your hand
before you know
if you can win or not
but you canāt hold them
tight to your chest forever
eventually the dealer will
call security and make you
give them back
Man makes a plan
And God Laughs
But what if
Two baddies
Maximize their joint slay?
Think on that,
God
There are many breeds of dog
Yellow
Poodle
Rottweiler
And science says theyāre all the same thing
Their DNA is the same
Ok
So if thatās true
How far can this go
How big can a dog get
Conversely how small
What is the speed of dog
The limit at which dog is no longer dog
But something else entirely
Evolution occurs at every generation
There is no baseline, no stagnation
A species is a point in time
So what Iām trying to say here is
Letās make a green dog
Letās make a blue dog
Letās make a tall dog
Letās make a long dog
Letās make a fat dog
Letās make a hotdog
Letās make a flat dog
Letās make a wide dog
Letās make a dog who wears glasses
Letās make a dog who can read
Letās make a striped dog
Letās make a polka dot dog
Letās make a cat dog
Yeah letās make a cat dog
One end is a cat
The other is, well, you know
Itās a dog
Okay letās do that
Barack Obama
Hillary Joe Biden
Wokeness
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
George Bush
Wilhelm Scream
Into my open mouth, love
So i can feel you echo
In my stomach
Let me be your
Can on a string
Say whatever you want
It will pass right through me
You can hit me
if thatās really what you want
Itās like playing drums i guess
But Iād rather you didnāt
For Sale
Fringe Jacket
Never Worn
Boys are from Mars. . . Cars
Girls are from Venus. . . Penis
How to say
āGood Eveningā
To your neighbor
Without sounding like
Dracula
Well first off
You should drop the
Thick Transylvanian Accent
thatās not doing you any favors
You could lose the cloak and
Plastic fangs as well
Then from there
Itās pretty much just
You smile and you make
Brief but meaningful eye contact
Say Good Evening
Maybe a small nod or wave
Would be good
And then get out of there QUICK
enter a world of imagination
a multiverse of wonder
every character
from every movie
and every show
and every book
and every story
ever told
together for the first time
Batman has sex with Marge Simpson
Mickey Mouse meets Doctor Who
The blue M&M and Beowulf
Go on an adventure with
Free Willy and the Duolingo Owl
In the background
Millions of characters mill about
Do you recognize them
Do you love them
Rick from Rick and Morty
Morty from Rick and Morty
Sully from Monsters Inc
SpongeBob
Heathcliff
Doctor Mario
Will Smith in Shark Tales
Will Smith in iRobot
Will Smith in I Am Legend
Mister Potato Head
Theyāre all here
Interacting
God this is great
10000 hours of things you missed
Big red circle thumbnail
Easter Eggs
Is this what you want
Shrek with a lightsaber
Michael Scott on Mars
Aang meets Jake Sully
Godzilla versus TƔr
Walter White works with Dexter
Willy Wonka and Tony Stark
Stay after the credits
You need to see the sequel
The story will continue
Forever
Forever
Forever (Sandlot)
At long last weāve done it
The final form of media
The Intellectual Property Cinematic Universe
Got my Dogs Out
Iām sat on a stump
Chewing onion grass
And let me tell you
I feel it
Iām starting to struggle
Iām beat Iām done Iām weak
It feels like
Thereās more foo
Than i could ever fight
eat now
and i will look out for you
I will feel you in the ripples
As i turn the other way
the only wave that matters
looks like a venn diagram
The water has returned
From where it was locked away
Three bouquets of flowers
Sit drowned on the shore
Robins hop when they arenāt flying
And sing when they arenāt sleeping
Spring is something you can feel
On your skin. In your feet.
You never see a bunny straight on
Youāre never going the same direction
Thereās nothing like
A place for you to sit
Atop brand new mound
Or against a big tree trunk
Arched parallel to your spine
If you let it, it will hold you
For Baby
Baby Baby
Never Baby
If you get positive feedback
on something
Like for instance
A poem about baby shoes
The best thing you can do
is lean in HARD
wring that joke for all its worth
beat that horse for all its glue
You never know
You may never be funny again
This could be your only chance
To wear those baby shoes
When life gives you lemons
make baby shoes
When life gives you limes
make baby shoes
When life gives you oranges
make baby shoes
When life gives you baby shoes
make more baby shoes
Dental Plan
Lisa Needs Braces
Dental Plan
Lisa Needs Braces
Dental Plan
Lisa Needs Braces
Baby Shoes
Never Worn For Sale
come on come on
big money no whammies
baby needs a new pair of shoes
Pull yourself up by your
Baby Bootstraps
There's work to be done
There's debt to be payed
And shoes to be made
Start a new business
Invest in BabyCoin
Sublease your sneakers
Sell your hair on Etsy
Charge interest on your
Aldi Shopping Cart Quarter
Buy land and gold
Patent the concept of
infant footwear
Make a penny on the dollar
Every time they're worn
Rise and grind
Baby Shoes Mindset
Haunted Baby Shoes
Leaving footprints in your stead
followed by some infant phantom
learning to walk learning to creep
learning to lurk in the shadows
Goo Goo GaGa, More like
Boo! Boo! AHHHHHHH AHHHHHH
You hide under the covers
and listen for the telltale
pitter patter pitter patter
on the ceiling in the walls
up and down the halls
evil devil ghost baby
gonna step all over you
with his scary baby shoes
worn once, and then forever
Barefoot baby
What need has he for shoes
He can scarcely walk
And the ground is soft here
It's good for him
to feel the grass
between his four little toes
She baby on my shoes til I'm worn
My love
as you know, we are so very poor
and Christmas is drawing near
and so I have sold my prized possession
my beloved pocket watch
for just enough to buy you
a priceless pair of baby shoes
never worn, for sale
Whats this?
You've sold the baby?
So that you could afford a gift?
A new chain for my silver watch?
Aw shucks am I embarrassed
I guess its the thought that counts
I'll list these shoes on Craigslist
Maybe we can get the baby back
the sun arcs overhead and light
illuminates the green waves of the valley
cascading down the hills in
the soft spring breeze
from somewhere up the mountain
a stream trickles down
dancing from bank to bank
down down and around
lingering in a small pool for some time
before it runs off towards the coast
under some set of feet
a single stone yields and falls downwards
bouncing once and rolling
into the water with a small splash
the light of the tangent sun
rides the concurrent ripples out
the mathematician steps up
onto a large flat boulder and sighs
with eyes wide open
he misses the beauty before him
in the sunlight he sees wavelengths
in the hills there are sine curves
the wind kissing his face is
a force, a pressure differential
he sees in the clear mountain stream
only laws and equations
replicable patterns, rote and routine
proven to him by numbers
which rule the deterministic world
he has built in his mind
a scale model of the true thing
an exact approximation
and there in his perfect universe
of cause, effect, and calculations
he sits and stares into the water
and realizes he is miserable
the mass and velocity of every entity
can be plotted to the end of time
yet he still feels without direction
even now as the attractive force of gravity
holds him firmly to this rock
it swings him wildly around the sun
Ever wanted to be in two places at once?
Struggling to balance your work and life?
You may be interested in this special machine
Deep beneath the surface in a secret lab
With levers switches buttons flashing lights
And great glass tubes of gross green goo
Prick your finger and sit right there
You need to stay still for this part
CLINK CLANK WHIRRRR SWOOSH
DING!
Your very own Genuine DNA-Replicated
Certified Identical Lab Grown Clone
Same eyes same face same mind same heart
All the same memories. Up to this point
All the same feelings. All the same needs.
Another You to do with as you please
Send yourself to work in the morning
So you can watch movies all day
Take your wife out for dinner
While your girlfriend is over
Do your taxes and pay the rent
Write a novel learn the clarinet
Take a load off sleep all day long
You've earned this for yourself
A week or two, a month passes
And you seem a little less identical
Like you've gained a few pounds
Like you've lost a few pounds
One of you is high on the couch
The other is biting your nails at work
You feel like you're finally happy
You feel like nothing has changed
In secret from yourself you slip away
Down down into the darkened lab
Flip a switch and find yourself a seat
CLINK CLANK WHIRRRR SWOOSH DING PLOP
A photocopy of a photocopy falls to the floor
Oh this is such a great idea
This is going to turn everything around
Come on get up you need to work in the morning
How long do you think you can hold out
Before you repeat yourself again
What harm would it do to make just one more
What good would it do to wait
It's not like anyone else is working
It's not like anyone else would know
DING DING DING DING DING DING DING
Uh oh
Things have settled down now, you think
The bed is a bit crowded and your wife is gone
But you've finally got the schedule settled
You work on Monday, You take out the trash
You go get the groceries, You go to class
You watch all the movies, You go to the gym
You cook, You clean, You write, You read
And you all get together on Sunday for drinks
She is right there
Standing in front of you
You get choked up
Just thinking of
Something to say
Sheās got it all
She looks at you and
Youāre done for
She looks like
If you could see gravity
And gravity was
Really sexy
Sheās wearing that outfit
The one with the
Shapes and colors
God damn it
And worst of all
Sheās
The woman reading this right now
They took all the baby shoes,
Put em in a baby shoe museum
And charged the people
A dollar and a half
Just to see them
:((
Got my baby jordans
Got my baby reebok
Got my baby soccer cleats
Got my baby penny loafers
Got my baby sperry topsiders
Got my baby Nike Airmax
Got my baby Sketcher Shape Ups
Got my baby crocs
Got my baby big boy shoes
Got my baby stiletto heels
Got my baby combat boots
Got my baby those shoes with the toes on them
Got my baby slippers
Got my baby flippers
Got my baby new shoes
Got my baby blue shoes
Got my baby old shoes
Got my baby gold shoes
Got my baby clogs
Got my baby moccasins
Got my baby Iron Boots
Got my baby the shoe that that fairy tale lady lived in
Got my baby the shoes from Holes
Got my baby the shoes from Like Mike
Got my baby the ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz
Got my baby the cinderella shoes
Got my baby the spray-on shoes from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Got my baby Boots' boots from Dora
Got my baby clown shoes
Got my baby serious shoes
Got my baby your shoes
Got my baby my shoes
Got my baby baby shoes
Got my baby never worn
Got my baby sad story shoes
For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn
I'm a grown ass man, Susan
I don't even know why you thought
I would want these
Who gives baby shoes as a gift
Who does that
Got an abortion so I dont need them shoes you gave me
For Sale: Baby socks, Never Worn
my baby got dang feet
too big for these got dang shoes
gotta sell them
probably wont even break even
gold plated baby sneakers
Custom engraved and everything
:(
Baby sad
FOr Sale Baby
Baby dont need shoes
Me and
One billion monkeys
on four billion typewriters
(one for each hand,
one for each foot)
If they really work hard
(I will pay them many bananas
this is an ethical hypothetical)
I think together we can write
One Really Good Poem
Whats better than one dog
Well I will tell you
if you give me a second
god damn
its two dogs
(two of them)
in the same place at
the same time
theyre both eating grass
its cool as fuck
I love these guys
they kissed too
There is
a secret phrase that
will help you solve this puzzle
come close and i will tell you
I will whisper it softly
I'm So Scared All The Time
Just practicing is okay
I think its nice when
all the words line up
even if it doesn't say
anything much at all
Here and here
but not
over there
heat like
cellophane burning
eyebrows lashes
nostrils
dark red black
choking
this must be done
or it all burns
Tucking your shirt into your pants
is the best proven way to feel like
you are in control of this thing
if that fails, tuck your pants into your socks
Being a grown up is all about fearing death
Getting so scared that you do the same thing
Every day for the rest of your life
And you don't even like it
You should try wearing a hat for a while
having something on top of your head
Can really turn things around
Trust me on this one, bud trust me
Pigboy eat your slop
Pigboy cut the grass
Pigboy get moving
Pigboy off your ass
Pigboy has had it
Pigboy is done
Pigboy is leaving
Pigboy on the run
Pigboy is ready
Pigboy is old
Pigboy is lonely
Pigboy is cold
Pigboy we miss you
Pigboy alone
Pigboy we're sorry
Pigboy come home
Blue Tailed Skink
Cut loose at your weakest point
Leave something behind
But move on for gods sake
You don't go down that path no more
But it remains there
How many limbs could you grow
If you weren't afraid to lose again
My heart walks on four legs
scurrying anxiously at your feet
I go to collect it from the floor
But it always eludes me
Like tom like jerry
Like the looniest tune
dog and cat
cat and mouse
fish and man
shrimp and rice
if i could hold it in my hands
I would squeeze too tight
blood like suds from a sponge
dripping on the floor
I would wince and recoil
drop and send it crawling back
under the table where you sit
wrapped around your ankle
begging pleading needing you
I will get it next time
They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
the air outside is hot and thin
the forest now a wasteland of stumps
half dug up and rotting
where they've yet to be paved over
birds circle aimlessly overhead
until they drop from exhaustion
the museum stands alone in a graveyard
like some inverted mausoleum
people flock from all across the state
shuffling and shoving in line
snaking around the building
peeking through the windows
Admittance is cheap
But the cost is monumental
Summer grass turned yellow
singed in unbroken sunlight
Autumns pass without color
and floods have only grown worse
there goes the garden
swept away in the washload
telephone poles stand like ghosts
in the wide barren plains
And it will never come back
those shady walks with your love
sitting in the treehouse with
your bestest friends
the sound of the breeze
the crunch of the leaves
oh don't it always seem to go
Shoo bop bop bop
is just words only
its hard to write
it tastes of cinnamon
burnt across your palate
so did you mean what you said
you said did you mean so what
Meaning is like a
Like a metaphor
it works from this angle
But not this one
pale blue mist broken by long silhouette
shifting rays of sun pass through us
moving north I hear you breathe softly
as the landscape turns grayscale
tempo the beating heart
the machine arterial flow
I cannot see the shapes
I can not see the shapes
The colors overlap without blending
Whether they are true or true adjacent
I feel I have a purpose here
Something I can manage
I look at you with your eyes closed
I pretend you do the same
Say something I can repeat
God Damnit