YOU’RE THE UNIVERSE

can’t switch that
evening track
when it’s jazz
goin at ya
mindfulness date
it’s a date
look at how
gentle they
are on
this thing
on best
behavior
she comments
on his
eyes
and
what
not
I’m just
crawling
out of
bed
in the
middle
of the afternoon
just ya know being
myself really
flicking off friends
on the side of the road
who are waving
hellos at me in passing
I’m cold and exacting
in this life or another
I write on napkins and
they look at me
“he’s got the nerve
to write poems on napkins”
I say I’m pure with flaws
you say I’m pure flaws
you say I’m pure no more
I say I’m pure on holiday
there’s nothing else I wanna take off
or get to take off
it’s not like you wanna land in the trees
holy fuck I’m not stuck no more
leave pure to pure milk colored milk
playing around inside the glass
but I’m making progress and progress is gorgeous
not hammered impaled or bludgeoned to death
not the excremental seance
of a board meeting saying they see things
things are on an upswing
then my grandmother died
a friend died
and we’re waiting for the next one to die
while we’re in the middle
of this upswing
jobs are hiring
if you want a shit job
they’re in the trees
where they’ve always been
I’m mad because I’m in love
understand I’m not mad because of love
mad because vast parts of the world
aren’t in love
this kinda talk
smoke spins at the ceiling
if you’re trying to follow my meaning
I’m trying to follow yours
and we’re in this shit together
your pain is mine
but you know added suffering is more of a coating
not the real thing
we get into a mess
I got a year long gripe with the New York Times
it won’t let me sit here and be the universe
if you don’t believe you’re the universe
I don’t either