I knew a boy once
he had his pulse  
in a bottle

He couldn’t climb mountains
with the bottle in his hand
and he couldn’t make a girl stay
with his heartbeat somewhere else

And you’d never believe
what he did with that bottle
he’d spin it around
on the floor
spinning
perfectly synchronized
with the music

As the music got faster
so did the spinning
and he couldn’t be sure  
where the tip was pointing

so he trusted his bottle
let his pulse slip in
and he jumped
in a fairly general direction


I knew a boy once
he had his pulse
in a bottle

but one night
the bottle stopped spinning

Now he can climb mountains