Friday, September 4, 2015

a black lighter on a white carpet


“I don’t care if he puts a rubber glove on his head and runs naked around the store screaming, ‘Hi! I’m a squid!’.” – Mrs. Timkin

 

bar fights

drunk tank nights

court proceedings

attorneys pleading

a jury of my peers?

 

guilty verdict

the harshest sentence

sent back to the lies

i like to linger in

 

escaping jail time

courthouse steps

i light a cigarette

 

let my sentence begin

 

*

 

“buy a girl a drink?”

 

“sure” is my cool

 

“thanks” she says

and notices how i flinch

when she touches my arm

 

i nod to the bartender

and motion to her

he puts a drink by her hands

i pretend not to notice

how he didn’t have to ask

her what she wanted

 

i want to bunt

sacrifice myself so someone else

can get to second base

 

she says her name is missy

i shake her hand and

tell her my name is barfly

she doesn’t even twitch an eye

in los angeles everyone lies

 

after drinks i try to say goodbye

but she notices my eyes

lingering on her breasts

which nature obviously

did not endow her with

 

she gives me a kiss

asks, “what are you into?”

 

“pine cones falling from the sky”

 

again she doesn’t twitch an eye

and my manhood won’t let me hide

the fact that, after all, i’m just a guy

and the offer of her honor

is all that is needed for me

to honor her offer

 

*

 

her place

i see an ash tray on the table

but i just can’t smoke inside

i go out on the balcony

but can’t find my lighter

and remember i saw one on her floor

i see her ready to pour a beer in a glass

and ask she just give me the bottle

 

that’s when she wants to know my real name

 

i divulge

 

“the writer?”

 

and i suddenly feel very exposed

while thinking she might actually

be a person of substance

(you know, because she’s read me)

 

then she says,

“you do know one day the universe

will be permanent and unchanging

when everything has finally decayed?”

 

foreplay for my mind

i stare for half a breath

then pounce

predator and prey

devour defines sex

when we are done

ever her neighbors need a cigarette

 

*

 

i wake to the merciless sun

searing the shear shades

that dance from a breeze

at her open window

 

i find half my clothes

and find her in the kitchen

breakfast burritos on a plate

i quiver at the fate

of me coalescing with the

leash and collar collection

 

i offer to go get us something to drink

she opens a beer over the sink

i begin to see a woman materializing

am i ready for all the relationship

compromising?

 

*

 

after food we are at a store

where she drops some serious coin

i ask what she does for money

 

“i make men fall in love with me

till they give me all their cash

then i kick them to the curb”

 

i blink

she laughs

hands me a business card

 

she’s an editor

for a publishing company

 

“you were in my top ten

of favorite writers

now you’re number one”

 

“there’s no accounting for taste”

i mumble

 

“let’s go to a bar till we stumble”

but she has something else in mind

 

back at her place we smoke weed

till we’re baked

then bake cookies

and eat them all

 

*

 

once again i’m woken

by the rooster of the sun

 

still having thoughts i should run

 

we venture into the day

cups of coffee and

her telling me why her

favorite month is may

 

i want to let go

crawl into her arms and sigh

maybe even cry

but to let someone inside

is like your pen running dry

in the middle of a masterpiece

and you are without the ability

to manufacture a manuscript

that makes you larger than life

 

instead i make a beer run

continue the fun

see how exciting it is to be with me?

 

never let anyone see

i am convinced i can’t really be me

because then i would not be loved

accepted

which i long for like a five

year old child

 

***

 

 

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