from the throne he sees only checkerboard tactics from little mice with dynamite in their mouths & cauldrons full of jealousy we serve falsely until the knife can be reached that is life – with or without a virus the man comes home earlier than expected to find out his 15 year marriage is a sham a woman sells everything she has to jump continents for a man who craves money we breathe in & out & eye each other like mutts true good deeds fly by like comets; we just drink to it & wonder fists clench & teeth crack when our hearts are rocked men sit in smokey rooms and discuss it the dogs wait outside and help them stumble home the taxi drivers feel your pockets life feels like a war sometimes with your mind & your heart, wife, wallet, addiction, demons & chosen saviour jesus was who i selected & everyday i hear him creak & threaten to collapse in on me for we talk too much & say things we shouldnt lay our eyes on ******* & *** & ***** until our little rods swell we like money and tasting things that **** us we’re hopeless at not being snakes its a mongrel world pedigrees get eaten and left on the riverbank we pick our gums and count money the sun burns the skin but never seems to rise the smoke rises from coal fires but never warms the soul we roll the dice on everything & aim our cannons at the gods