life is, basically,
the most ridiculous game of hide-and-seek anyone ever plays.
we all start out trying this same obvious spot
and that works out well enough for about nine months
till some clever people in white labcoats figure us out
and all of a sudden, we're the seeker.

and it sucks being the seeker.
no one wants to be the seeker.

but we're forced to walk around this giant basement
usually in the dark, if you're playing with experts
and we bump into things and stub our toes
and scream and whine and then we try to listen real careful
'cause maybe someone is breathing too heavily
but no one ever is, and you could never have heard them
over the buzzing of the stupid radiator anyway.

but eventually we manage to find someone,
and it's someone like Harvard or Prison or Community College
who never hides himself all that well in the first place,
and then, finally, after what felt like 22 years of searching,
we get to take a deep breath and go searching around
for the best hiding spot in the room.

and we climb all the way on top of the stacks of money,
but there's always somebody there already
so instead we try to scrunch ourselves up real tight
and try to fit into that huge dusty chest
with all our parents' old photographs and notebooks,
but most of us don't fit in there.
and so we end up settling for somewhere easy,
like behind the mess of job applications in the corner,
and so we sit there, as still as possible,
disappointed with ourselves for a few years
until, by some sick and twisted turn of events,
no one ever finds us again.

at first it's funny, and we think we're happy there
but after awhile it just becomes dreadfully boring,
and we start to worry that everyone else got bored hours ago,
and they all went upstairs without telling us they were done.
but of course, if we say anything, we'll give ourselves away
and then we'll just lose the whole game.

but ya know what? i don't care anymore, you guys.
i wanna go outside or something.
i quit.

12/09/2009

Posted on 12/09/2009
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