Wonderful to see so many people roving the streets
with candles, flashlights and old cameras
that can burn down mansions with their dazzling screams.

I’ll take love if it comes my way.
I’ll buy flowers for the living,
and I’ll probably wind up giving them to the dead.

You do good where you can.
You visit the wasteland town,
wear nothing but the hat on your head,
and the pants you borrowed from a skinny friend.
and you assume that a suitcase will fall off the turnip truck.

Only when things get desperate.
Only when the woods at the edge of town
look more like Mars than they did a little while back.

I’m walking in the opposite direction
of the city-wide blackout. That’s not because I’m a revolutionary.
I’m not trying to make eye contact with big smiles,
and it’s not because I’m looking for a fight.

Somewhere else to be is all you need to know.

The understanding was simple enough
that even I was able to keep up with it.

Say I’m dense at times.
Remind me that I wasted a whole summer learning
how to avoid motorcycles coming through my backyard.

Let’s skip to the end of everything you need to know.
Let’s imagine I was truly courageous when the time came.

Some will reach out to you from wherever
the dizzy spell hits you,
like a practical joke that replaces sand with water
when you’re sweating up a storm on a worry-free day.

I know people who prefer to pull you away
from the scene when you’re obsessed with remaining in motion.

I used to hate anyone
who could figure me out inside of an hour,
but then I decided that it was too much work
to hate practically everybody.

May as well embrace them
and do exactly as they say.

Rough oceans in the Midwest?
Fine, buddy, fine.

Manic women in loose t-shirts and slippers?
Bring ‘em on. I’m not even lonely anymore.

A quiet night in?
Not so fast, brother.

I’m not against it. I’m just not in the mood tonight.
I guess I’ll just see what my mood is
when I’m suddenly and violently compelled
to stop walking.

12/04/2011

Posted on 12/04/2011
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