SUMMER
A late night trek
into the dense growth of the canyon
to kiss with someone
whose story you barely know
is the best kind of mission
if you want to feel as if you might at once
fall passionately out of your senses
and be attacked by a wild animal.
HARD WORK
The less interesting the subject
the more impressive the artist must be.
Options:
A: Become a better artist.
B: Find more interesting subjects.
YOUTH OF
I’ve been on tour the past few weeks
reading books to children
in different schools
in different cities
in different states.
It’s been inspirational
to say the least
meeting them all
and watching those differences blend
into their faces and attitudes
like the watercolor give
in the geography
of highway mile markers.
Living in a city
built on a desert
and populated with generations
who couldn’t wait to escape their parents,
small towns,
or respective social constraints
it’s easy to spend your day never really knowing anyone.
Orphans.
It’s easy to forget about humanity
the further you stand from it
the further you build your house away from someone else
the thicker you pad the walls.
Not knowing who people are
or what they want to do with their lives -
only catching a glimpse of a shadowy figure
elongated against the landscape
through the lens of a camera
the jigsaw puzzle of an overheard conversation-
It’s only natural to stack the odds against the common good.
Not knowing how they plan to raise their children
to try and make the world a better place
and how they are just as scared as you some times-
it only strengthens the argument
for the unhindered spread of terribly sad futures
that will one day paint black the skies.
But from what I’ve seen recently
I recommend you take a moment
to step out of your day,
perhaps a weekend abroad
visiting with the locals
in a place you’ve
only driven past
and wondered.
The longer we live with the projections
of what life is like on the other side of the wall
the more disappointed we will be
when we scale it
armed to the teeth
and looking for someone to blame.
WHY I WRITE
I will never cure cancer
not with the schooling I’ve had
and my lack of focus
and because I don’t really even know what cancer is
or how it works.
So the best I can do
is to write some things down-
some words, some pictures-
in hopes that they will inspire a stranger
sitting alone
in a laboratory
in the dark of night
to move a microscope
two clicks in an unfamiliar direction
two clicks toward a discovery
that might forever change the world
and cure me
of ever having to worry
about knowing
anything about cancer.
MOST CHARACTERS
Most characters
don’t consider themselves characters
chewing on the nub of a cigar,
always poking you in the chest with a fat finger,
ogling your girlfriend,
using slang remainders from decades past.
Most characters
are just being what they thought it looked like
when they saw it in their heads.
same as you.
SUCCESS
Thousands of years of art history
and the safe money
is still on a picture of a naked girl.
PAIR
Deciding
that your greatest fear
is dying alone
will have you shopping
at the bargain bin
more often than you’d care
knee deep in discount fashion,
bent on the chance of exhuming that one irregular gem
that none of the others seemed to catch
because they didn’t have time to dig
-too busy, caught up in
dying alone.
DON’T FORGET TO THANK YOUR FRIENDS
Because there is nothing pretty
about cleaning someone off the floor
after a long night
with too many turns to count.
WHERE
In your car
fists clenched
over the loss of control
that’s been taking your life
slowly but clearly in a direction
unplanned and unwanted
you ask big questions,
bigger than you’ve ever asked to date.
The radio answers
-a bad familiar song
you once danced to
kissed someone too
took your shirt off and yelled out into the night to
back before
bad songs were bad songs
and no one knew the difference
between one direction and the other.
EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY
As I write this
an accounts receivable manager
has just joked
that he “put the G in Gmail”
and gotten a laugh
from a mail clerk
who came to work high.
TIDES
I need to move to the ocean.
It feels important.
Being where the earth ends
and all the years of fevered
city planning
turn to loose sand.
Almost like the government doesn’t exist there
and hasn’t existed for some time
but no one really talks about it
it’s just a known fact amongst the locals –
what things might actually look like
if the entire country just relaxed
fifteen percent more often –
longboards
sandals made out of rope and
lots more people talking to their dogs
SCENT
The nicest part
is when she brings your pajamas back
the next day
and they smell like detergent
you would never think to buy.
CELEBRATE
This party has free food and a nice view of the city.
Everyone feels older
or like they are trying to appear older.
Chances are most are younger than me
just with more pieces to their outfits.
Add five years for each extra article of clothing you can slather on.
It reminds me of a get together television parents would have
one that television children would watch from the top of the stairs
and overhear words they wouldn’t fully understand for several seasons
and by then maybe they’d be replaced by another actor
or an adopted mixed-race baby.
My parents never had parties like that.
They had ones where people got drunk on a farm
and blew up watermelons with homemade fireworks.
Which maybe explains why everyone here feels older.
but there is free food and a nice view of the city.