Critical Superiority

Might indulge in some betrayal fantasies today.
I always feel like I’m going to be given a sticker
after encountering Steven Roggenbuck.
Have you ever touched metal so cold it feels wet.
I wonder who I failed today & who forgave me.
I’m going to look sideways
just a pinch
while I take this selfie. When I’m bored in meetings
I practice writing with my left hand.
You’re in a good place
when the reason you can’t sleep
is because you miss yourself.
Begin a poem with Although & you’ll be fine.
Or Satisfied.
What are you?
I ain’t nothing to you.
I stare at you sadly with an attitude
the righteous inflict upon the dumb.

Perhaps Maybe Points Towards

I guess when you get older it’s cool
to put a tiny Band-Aid on your face. This crouton
is fun to suck on. I will be expecting the extraordinary today
tomorrow. Things are designed
& made to rebuke the curious.
Watching local news
for the first time
in a while.
Where I live everything is dying or being deceived
but sometimes
a baby survives.
I just remembered vividly
all the average things
I’ve done in my life.
Seems to suggest is the phrase
that will be our ruin.

A Deputation of Spastics

Healing someone is a form of bondage.
Just ask anyone married to a man. In me
is a frieze studded with skulls
& while we cuddle your pulse
dislodges one, I catch it, & I use it
as a bowl to drink from
but with my mouth as it was
when I was a boy.
The hands I hold
are always colder
than mine. I ignite people
or so the palmist tells me & our public roads, bridges, sewers, airports,
trains, & mass transit are LIKE. FAVORITE. FOLLOW. FRIEND.
I like obedience.
I’d fit nicely into a cult
& if we had to occasionally kill someone
I’d be the one the leader would turn to
to persuade our skeptical members
why it was so necessary. Tell me what to do
just so I can do it well. Tell me your vision
& I’ll be your gut feeling.