Day-to-Day

'I even think that the best definition of man is: a creature that has two legs and no sense of gratitude.'

—Fyodor Dostoevsky

It was the kind of work

   That made you feel

Like you could

   Convert your soul

      Directly

         Into

      Energy.

 

If E=mc²

 

What is

 

   The mass

 

      Of the soul?

   

 

Past

 

Some things

Are left

On the path

Never

To be taken

Up

  Again.

 

Others

We re-encounter

At the

Most

Unexpected

  Moments.

 

Preface

 

And for accepting these chains,

O Temptation,

What will you grant me?

 

Daily Bread

I want
To be able
To eat
Through
Living
Instead
Of through
Dying.

  

 

On the Clock

 

Once again

I’ve crawled

Out of bed

Into a shower

In front of a mirror

Out a door

Onto a train

And into a building.

 

Is there even

The slightest possibility

That there can be

Meaning in this?

 

I am only stalling.

 

 

Occupation

 

A psychologist
Is an engineer
Of the soul
    —He can

       Tell you
       How to

       Build it.

But a poet

   Will get in
      And show

            You

         How

                 to  

                         f  

                     l  

                              y.

 

 

Train Girl

Hearts pass
   Like ships

   In the night

If you could just
Look up
And see in me
   An echo
   Of what
   I see in you

But if you do

I know

I'll just
Look away

   Our chances
   Are really
     just

       so 
        small
     Aren't they?

 

You say

“Emotional decision”

As if

Its genesis

Were somehow

Invalid.

 

  Are not

  The decisions

  To love

  To protect

  And to cherish

  Emotional?

 

    Logic alone

    Would dictate

    Only live

    And let

    Die.

 

  Perhaps

  When you say

  “Emotional”

  You really

  Mean

  Humane.

 

Solitude

 

   Circles,

      circles,

         circles.

 

No matter which corner

   You look in,

That empty room

   Is still

An empty

      Room.

 

 

Acne

 

I am a monster.

Hide yourself away from me.

 

 

Stop Knocking

 

I have nothing

I have nothing

Go away

I have nothing.

 

It was the kind of story

That made you

Want to

Smash apart

The pillars

That held up the world

Because everything

Was clearly

Just

So

Wrong

That nothing less

Than

Total destruction

Could redeem us.

 

 

Get Your Head Out Of Your Ass

 

Sometimes

You need to see

The pain in someone’s eyes

When you do as you please

To realize

It’s time to stop.

 

 

Isolation

 

There is no place

    for me in this.

 

    I watch the strings

      and wonder

          at the beauty

            of the puppets

            knowing that

                I will never

                be able

                to reach down

                    and touch.

 

 

Project

 

Every day

When he came home

He took a spoon

And dug out

A piece of earth

From the yard.

 

When the hole

Was big enough

He would lie down

And be at peace.

 

 

Day In

 

Can you get paid

Just to have a soul?

 

 

Crush

 

     Pour

   Into
     The steps
    Of Shinjuku station
Like so much effluent
  Spiraling

    Down
     A dirty

  Drain.

 

 

Passer-By

 

Who's died?

  I did.

Oh.

Nothing special.
Let's move on.

 

 

Alien Artifact

 

i look at you
with your arms around one another
and your shared, satisfied smile
and i just
don't
under

stand.

   i've wandered so far from all of this.