Nobody can force me to drink
as much as
I can drink alone. Company
loves misery. So does
pleasure. God
had a revelation
that he likes candy. Nobody
held it against him. Hymns
all around: 99 Bottles,
George Thorogood, Ernest Hemming-
went away into the Paris night
or New York or ******* Bakersfield,
the leaves or the sand or
my hand clutching
my other hand. “Write drunk, edit...”
never. The land
is laid like a sheet of paper
over a gravel road. A toad
has it right when his neck
bubbles to hold his secrets,
and pops. Hopping on cops
is what happens when a pull-over
pulls me over. A job can only be held
with callused eyes, with fresh breath,
and a friendly-ish smile. Don’t hawk up too much bile
until you know
your boss’s rules. Your boss doesn’t rule!
Anything he says is an apology
for sinning, cheating on his wife,
and it’s your fault. Who else
would conceive
such a beautiful child? Who else
is there in this world? When strings vibrate,
they vibrate everywhere, and elsewhere
they are. Sound commences
and ends within a second, but
that’s much longer than my life,
my name. Nothing
strings together if you use metal. A block
of clay melts into you.
