Beauty & the Waste

For Jeff Stewart

The end is always near

In the heartbeat

Of blood &

Time

Making long-distance

Collect calls

To a god who wonʼt answer

From phone booths

That no longer

Exist.

The talking heads

Keep talking,

Telling us more lies.

North Korea has its finger

On the trigger.

ISIS never sleeps.

Meanwhile,

Everybodyʼs working for the weekend

Watching football on TV

Waiting for the perfect death,

Or retirement,

Whichever comes first

Going back & forth

On trains

In cars

On roads

Stuck in traffic

Up & down

& across America

The land of the free

& the home of the depraved.

What makes us great?

How can we sleep

When our beds are burning?

In the shadow

Of turning

The mirror sees

Everything:

The face…wanting

Waiting

For the next new song to play

On the radio

The next earthquake

Building below

The skinʼs surface

The temporary happiness

Of insanity

& complacency

Drinking to forget

Remembering to let go

Worshipping the sex

Of chaos

The anxious brain

Balancing between body

& soul

The burden & cost of the cross

How it looks to others

How we look

To it

Having feelings that murder

Logic

Stepping on the shoulders

Of children

To get a better view

Can we ever know the truth?

Sitting on couches

Staring at walls

While the world is out there

Spinning

We stay inside

& surf through images

Comparing ourselves

To how others live

Staying up late

Eating crackers in bed

Reading T.S. Elliot

Taking pills so we can dream

Taking pills so we can think

The beauty & the waste

Beyond windows

Beyond screens

In crowded cities

Of overpriced rent

Commuting to the next place

The next thing

The diamond ring

The hope of love

The lust

The broken promise

The fairy tale

The betrayal

The enchanted forest

Littered & forgotten

The longing

The failure to launch

The haunted, burning questions

Tunneling the dark mind

In search of answers that can speak

For themselves

The unwanted thoughts

Of fear

Guilt

Doubt

The worm in the dirt

Digging around the bones

The cancer

The debt

The slow death of the living

The price of neglecting

The ink

The love of words

The machine at the table

Waiting for the poem

The shrine

Of a silent god

Wanting nothing less

Than blood

The voices

The faces

The bodies

Fucking away the time

In the sand of the hour glass

The naked animal

Behind the mask

Yawning during the movie

The emptiness of an empty church

An abandoned home

The memory of a bad childhood

The ice at the bottom

Melting together

Remembering the thirst

The agnostic laughter last seen

Leaving the bar

Alone