from Silicon Valley of the Shadow of Death
from Silicon Valley of the Shadow of Death
iAmazed the paparazzi by sneaking out through the kitchen with a soup pot over my head iBruise easily because there are innumerable sickles caroming through my blood iCondensed a lifetime of writing into a single chip the size of a dust mite only to lose it sneezing iEnded up taking the easier route up while my husband my dear late husband plummeted to his death iForged his signature perfectly but have up ‘til now failed to believably copy his syntax iGathered my split personalities together and all of us trembling approached our father’s deathbed iHanded the letter to her and walked away resisting the urge to look back iInterned in DC one summer my only friends the monuments iJoined the Army out of high school because one day in the cafeteria the recruiter called me away from my friends iKnifed a rider as he passed and am texting you from the moist warm belly of his horse I should survive the night iLead a quiet life I guess the life of a ventriloquist who’s lost his voice to his dummy iMade around a million if you really want to know and that’s after taxes my friend iNever did catch your name it’s still falling iOpted for the brown ones because in this town what with the dust you can’t keep white white iPositioned myself near the back of the pack just drafting off the leaders and made my move in the gun lap iQueried the agent told her I was working on something infinitely long that will never end much less sell iReturned in the fall to find the trap sprung and the beast of leaves sleeping iSaid “Where are you coming from today and what brings you to Oconomowoc?” iTurned forty yesterday it took me three big breaths to blow out all the candles iUsed to sell out venues this size but I’m lucky now if I can get the bartender to crack a smile iVote at the urinal and piss in the booth iWrite to you today from the most beautiful place under earth iXtolled the virtues of flossing to my hillbilly friend and he said “Sure, got any twine?” iYanked my son’s Halloween mask off and underneath it was another and underneath that iZipped up my Patagonia fleece and took what turned out to be a fatal step towards the riot cops