Having failed in such attempts as I've made,
having so far failed to make the attempt,
or not having been apprised until just recently
that the attempt could in fact be made,
I nonetheless from this day onward and ever after
abdicate from my place in line for, and renounce,
further servings at the voluminous and double
X-chromosomed buffet of flesh.
We lean back, we ones
Too cool and aloof to actually cringe,
And hug the shadows we need to have fall
Across our frightened faces.
Beyond our world of coffee and singed
Bent matches and the grey-
Blue smoke of our Gitanes
There is no security.
I kept asking myself:
should I really do this?
Stir-fry breadcrumbs
in a skillet for 12 minutes?
After all,
I’m warm, caring
and sensitive
and besides
without your minced meat --
well I need someone to raise the heat
someone random and spontaneous
and easy to get along with.
While the roof leaked oil through slim, glittering cracks
their edges black with petroleum and rainwater,
I slept like a drunk in my stalled blue Honda.
The buses pass over me like men in the aisles of bars,
each cigarette burned to the filter.