xylazine, horse tranquilizer
croc, the zombie drug
must be lots of fun
you’re getting high
while your legs disintegrate
you shrug
"gotta take the bad with the good"
we had a patient come in
we could see his femur
the actual bone
and we could smell the problem
from out in the hall
he was scheduled to get the leg chopped off
but first we pulled out the breathing tube
so he could decide if he wanted the amputation
or preferred to get septic and die
when asked how he let things get so bad
he gave an intelligent answer
"because i’m stupid"

why people do what they do
is endlessly fascinating and horrifying
we'll never know the real motivation
and it probably wouldn't help anyway

to be fair
we were always racist
the civil rights obsession
of the 50s and 60s
was an anomalous blip
witness our recent reaction
to black people's displeasure
at getting slaughtered by police
for traffic violations
america was so appalled
we reelected donald trump

ruth buzzi lay dead on the lawn
ruth buzzi, star of rowan & martin’s laugh-in
dayglo spinster with a hair net
like a spider web on her scalp
foil for arte johnson
remnant of a comedian
lay stiff on the lawn
my wife placed her there for decoration
she thought it was perfect
well it was perfectly disturbing
our friends were uncomfortable coming over
i reasoned with her
"we can’t have kids here"
but my wife thought it was a cool garnish to the house
she laughed, fixed herself a tito and tonic
and plomped down in a chair on the porch
admiring the lawn

yo trumpy
get the Jewish State
to chill on the genocide
antisemitism will recede
back to your base
where it belongs

it’s not a fair world
nor a rational one
an unpleasant
though obvious
fact

even as it gentrifies—
all those boxy condos—
Pittsburgh will never turn
hipster chic (Williamsburg)
just pleasantly dorky
that’s cool, in its way