The Process

Please Remove Cartridge

The directions
For the next step
Did not print

Perhaps we had
Run out of ink
Sooner than
Initially anticipated

Now we must
Decide for
Ourselves

Useless

I am terrified
At the prospect
Of the influence
Consequential of interaction
That amount of power
You could have
Over the mind
Of the children
You could have

Your ugly insides
Are useless to this world

If only you were shy

Lefty, Loosey

I experimented with writing
With my left hand, yesterday

My vision began to slant
Sideways and oppositeways

The strict, severe lines
Of unbroken boundary and communication
Became crooked and unsure of themselves
Blurry and abstract, at best

And now
I cannot go back

A Brief Summary Of All Things (So Far)

Once upon a time,

A star exploded,
And created everything.

Years later,
Another one did, too,
And-

Served

Here they come
Knock, knock.
Baby, how’s your credit?
baby, why are you answering rhetorical questions?
Silly baby, look here, I have your bank statement
Knock, knock.
Your shit don’t look so good
Kiddo, you don’t have time to pack
It’s time to go.

baby’s running
You cannot not answer that door
You cannot not pay for all that excess shit
Kiddo, and it don’t look so good
Knock, knock.
You know, if they can’t get it back
The money that tasted so good
That you don’t have
Never had
They will take it from your body, drain it from your soul.

MAY WE PRESENT THE PENALTY MENU:

FOR UNDER TEN DOLLARS OWED, FINGERS AND TOES
FINGERS AND TOES, ALL OF THEM

FOR ELEVEN DOLLARS OR OVER, EITHER OVARY
EITHER TESTICLE
YOUR CHOICE, WE’LL WORK WITH YOU

WE’LL WORK IT OUT, WE’LL TAKE IT OFF

EVERY DOLLAR OVER TWENTY, YOUR NOSE
YOUR EARS
LEFT THEN RIGHT
YOUR EYES
LEFT THEN RIGHT
PLUCK, PLUCK

KNOCK, KNOCK.

Was it worth it?
Time to go.

A Sunday’s Musings (Or I Won’t Stoop Low Enough To Label A Piece “Untitled”)

I have this dear friend
A small pebble
No bigger than a dime
Who is faced with the decision
To be beautiful and loved by all,
To be beautiful and loved by some,
To be beautiful and loved only by itself.

I have advised this pebble, my friend,
To concern itself less with the artifice of being
And to focus on the fulfilment of expression
Spanning the entirety of the spectrum
From great to good,
From bad to worse.

I have advised
My pebbly friend,
Also, thus:

Expect no reward.

Something Borrowed

Your eyes betray a desired depth
That is beyond your capacity

And I am sorry
That I cannot help but flinch away

At your desperately grasping emptiness

That long ago absorbed my love

And turned it into particles

So small

Just light enough, that at the merest touch

Could blow away

And dissapear

A Universal Query (Or Perhaps A Query To The Universe)

Whenever I get an idea for a poem that I’m pleased with,

I impulsively begin compulsively picking my right nostril.

I wonder how long this has been going on.

Snapchat Bandwagon

Hoppin’ on. Do your worst.

@ribreadwalker