Tom Cruise is keeping a list
and when this is all over he is going to tell your mother everything
there is nothing to escape from it is a passing panic
let’s just calm and purr with ease™
a minivan just knocked down the power lines in a shower of white sparks
in a desert a soldier sells a truck of guns for a bag of diamonds
two people embrace by the fountain
one of them is crying a little
and leaning completely against the other person
when they whisper into the sleeve
I feel uneasy™ and tired™ and quiet
like I have been vomiting my entire life
I hesitate and gasp I pray to it when I pray
it is a fire hydrant flying through the air after the explosion
it is the porn left on the screen when I leave
it is the four tiny deer dancing on the hot dog cooker
the scary™ news is next to the funny™ news on the homepage
the projector sends light across the room to the screen
I lose you in a crowd and look for you like my child
I push people gently and look in all directions I quietly say
‘where are you. where are you, for crissakes, just tell me
where you are. I will figure out how to get there.’
she takes ice cubes out of her mouth and looks up at him
he is leaning back and sighing and moaning he begs her not to stop
white gauze taped over an eye
crowbar in the couch by the window
someone goes to the cupboard a hand grabs a plastic plate
simultaneously I trust™ you and suspect™ you
and there is a way that my skin protects me
there is a little long lasting regret™ there is a little long lasting flavor
she gnaws on a straw and waits in the lobby tapping her foot on the tiles
at last relax give into it will carry you we have no power to stop this
I try to attack this emptiness™ and shiver
attack this nothing™ and whisper to
young Tom Cruise sitting on a step and imaging being famous some day
little did he know
we grow to screw up
and live with it everyday
I’m so glad™ you are here
to see me through in some way
to show me up and I notice silently every time and think about it
alone and then someone makes a noise in the hall
a green mactruck angles around a corner near a market
and past the fence between the doghouse and the street
I am Tom Cruise I have no problem remembering what my face looks like
we hunted with sticks with bone tips that we sharpened then one day
a man in a jogging suit went merrily along the sidewalk
someone gets off the bus and steps onto the ground
a bike rack on the back of the minivan moves past the stop sign
we go under the ocean and the algae
we spread across Alaska
we split up
it is walking on the world wearing shoes it is a family of mountain lions on top of the mobile home on the top of a mountain
a garbage truck drives up the steps through the foyer through the
living room through the stairs through the walls through the kitchen
out the back wall over the patio and through the fence
there is internal profanity
I am inside your water bottle
it is a cat licking makeup off eyelids
it is the twelve year old ventriloquist listening to sonatas
take my hand and walk while our palms touch
live with ease™ and walk and breathe with ease™ in the violent sounds
Tom Cruise flies through the air not far from the explosion
it is the pit of dead peacocks we have fallen into
it is the discarded scrunchie that breaks the case
our planet has been through so many extinctions
who are we kidding this is never going to last
Tom Cruise looks at the disaster from a nearby cliff
someone in white shoes drops a coin on the crosswalk
a milk crate is fastened to a bike with a person pedaling it
lots of us have become stop signs without roads
the table has a few stains but no worry
no worry it is a melting whistle on the sidewalk
a group circles the man in the orange shirt
one person punches the orange shirt and the man gasps and falls
a young girl pushes the chalk on the sidewalk humming something
we fly together above the grasslands we near a forest and land in trees
take this keep it close to your heart when people spit at you and the
spit separates into two spits and one spit hits each eye take this
to wipe your face with or to soak the blood up
I am here take this and look directly into the light
it will be over soon and it could be worth it
right away I know you are worthy of saving yourself from this world
I stroke your hair
‘soon enough, soon enough, our trouble will be over.’
you slap my hand away
‘what then, what then, if we keep up like this, what then.’
here it is just above the water
