WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE ME AN ESCAPE PLAN?
A new version of an old poem from my debut collection, MORE WRECK MORE WRECK
I wish I was an octopus, eight arms & those suckers
Pestering everyone with my need of touch, worry
Of coming unstuck. L looks me straight in the eye:
If I had not spent the last three years shaking you I swear
You were loose. I want to see the holes in the ozone
If ever I am to believe the truth about the direction
This all is going. We who are about to die thank you
For your generosity with your preference for those
Individually-wrapped food items. Each day, someone
Wakes, looks in the mirror, mumbles, I have terrible
Powers. I guess it is better than you are the only
Friend. Mangled guts pretending to not be pushing
Our own buttons, mashing our own brains. I have
Had a wet dream, a phrase you do not want to hear
From Mother Earth. It feels like we are a bad drawing
Reality sketched, called a reflection. In that blank
Space of refraction, I forgot who I loved & where
They went. Get back here! Let us wed or live forever
Or whatever. Get back here! Let you be my mouthful
Of pills. I am preparing for the disaster & if you
Dislike it, answer me: You want to be clean or you
Want to be effective? Everybody could use a good
Hug is a fine answer, I say to the passing cars.