shadow boxing

smashed the bathroom mirror with my fist

the only mirror in my place

i guess i can kiss my security deposit goodbye

 

left the bathroom

saw my shadow on the wall

gave it the finger

 

blasting “watching me fall”

by the cure

waiting for a noise complaint

 

hit the weights hard

should have loaded up on water

but i’ve opened my first beer

 

the cat box is the room’s aroma

i scoop it

open the balcony door

the screen the only thing

that barricades against

all that which inhabits

the night

 

i break my cardinal rule

light a smoke in the apartment

my cat squints

takes another dump in the cat box

flicks its tail

and goes under the bed

 

i’m dancing

singing along with robert smith

“the world is neither fair nor unfair”

 

i grab a magic marker

write on my arm

“working on mysteries without any clues”

and on the other

“running on fumes”

 

then recite the entire composition

of “howl”

by allen ginsberg

 

open my second beer

realize it’s been over

twenty four hours since i ate

 

tacos on a plate (oh yeah)

as long as i don’t wait

until it’s too late

 

(o.k. john calm down)

 

shoe your feet

hit the street

another night without a shower

in this early hour

nine after nine

i’ll find plenty of places to dine

 

i feel the concrete

through worn out shoes

haven’t bought a pair

since last year

 

i really should get around to it

 

my cell phone is ringing

wtf?!

 

the number is 000-000-0000

i hit ignore

 

the beer has passed through my empty stomach

filled my bladder

i find an alley

watch my shadow wrestle with something

at the bottom of jacob’s ladder

give them both the finger

 

i take a wrong turn

a street tiled with the homeless

they hit me up for a cigarette

by the end of the line

my pack is empty

 

i can empty a packet of smokes

and i can empty my bladder

but why when i pour out words

is my mind never empty?

 

i come across a liquor store

buy a fresh pack of smokes

and a forty ouncer

 

stroll into the nearest alley

and start to smoke and drink

then remember i was suppose

to get something to eat

 

a helicopter hovers overhead

shines a light on the alley

my shadow appears

on the wall before me

i give it the finger

 

flex my arms

kiss my biceps

and wait for the world

to make its next move

 

*** (WHERE'S MY PULITZER?!) :)