the miracle of multicellular organisms

it’s raining

they say l.a. needs it

but los angeles doesn’t know what it needs

 

anyway

that’s the end of my sociology lesson

i’m drunk, wet, walking around

smoking a cigarette

 

this all seems so familiar

 

and i’m not interested in societal reflections

or the manner in which physics destroyed

the best versions of reality

 

i’m just having fun

the rain put out my cigarette

so i find an overhang

and light another one

 

carefree

alcohol in me

watching everyone flee the falling rain

like it is the final judgment of god

 

before i went for “a walk”

jenny was on top

her swollen pregnant belly

looked like it was ready to pop

 

when she was done with me

she told me to make her a banana split

before she called the cops

 

i filled the biggest bowl we had

with all the ingredients

then slipped into the rain

the only degenerate

who knows the water will

never wash him clean

 

i unscrew my flask

white whiskey

sip and make a face

take another

then return to the rain

 

i think about writing another novel

then think that was what

the dark streets of decay was

a novel

each poem/vignette was a chapter

and this is its sequel

 

i stop at the realization

retrieve my flask from my jacket

unscrew the top

quote adam duritz,

“I wasn’t made for this scene baby

But I was made in this scene”

 

touch the tip of the flask to my lips

and let its entire contents

set me on fire

amid the rain’s impotency

to put out the flames

 

and you know what?

i just don’t care

there is no underlying thought

that one day i will stop

 

i continue walking

the end of this poem i am stalking

looking for that perfect line

that perfect rhyme

that will finally complete

me

 

but all i see is my reflection

in the store front windows

soaked

out of smokes

flask empty

 

and the only completion

will be a liquor store

where i can buy more

 

i guess if the devil can hide in plain sight

then why can’t i spend the night

drunk, wet, walking around

smoking a cigarette

 

los angeles, i can wager a bet

i am someone you will forget

but tonight i am a blood cell

coursing through your veins

 

***