Hallways looking like hospitals for the stubborn undead.
Not a single thing is happening in any of your five bedrooms,
and I don’t think we’re ever going to find your car,
or figure out where your front porch has run off to.

I wish I could lie right now,
and tell you that I hate to be the bearer of bad news,
but we haven’t been in love for years,
so I can only shrug,
and light a cigarette in your smoke-free backyard.

Some people call that careful attention to image.
I call it thinking about six more years of travel,
because I have nothing nice to say to you,
and my ride isn’t supposed to get here,
for another twenty minutes.

Everyone else left ages ago.
Your mattress is a lonely soul in the kitchen,
and all those twenty-dollar bills aren’t coming back.

The TV is now just a painting,
of what looks like Orson Welles
having eighteen simultaneous heart attacks
in Touch of Evil.

Don’t worry.
Most things can be replaced
with a little money and some self-esteem.

You haven’t been happy
since the end of the century,
so it’s not like you lost anything
that’s going to hurt like hell in thirty years.

I lied. There’s plenty of nice things to say.

It was still a fantastic party
and a lovely get-together for lovely people,
people who didn’t like the rubber walls in the living room
and people just like me.

Someone told me it was your birthday,
but we both know you’re not big on aging
like everyday people do.

I’m not even sure
you know what this was all about.

Most of us hate to sleep alone,
and you were never half-assed about being miserable.

It was a great time,
and you’re as beautiful as ever.

I’d be inclined to visit again soon,
but you’re probably already sick of me.

Don’t feel bad.
You’re not the only one,
who thinks that way.

I also have no idea what city and state this is,
and I’ve really been trying to cut
that kind of thing out of my day-to-week life.

My declining years have not seen a lot of self-improvement,
but I’d like to think I try.

You were probably too busy
leaning on successful types
and drowning teenagers in champagne to notice

08/21/2011

Posted on 08/21/2011
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