—RUN, BABY, RUN

 

…Friday is the best day to start your weekend, or so I’ve been told.

…This isn’t what I had in mind, though.

…It was never a contest, but I think I enjoyed every moment a lot more than you ever did.

…Time, is no friend of mine.

…A few things I really don’t like—walking over any bridge, driving over any bridge, tomatoes, flakey people, onions, cottage cheese, Satan and genocide.

…“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” Maya Angelou

…I finally sent the book off Wednesday. Cross your fingers for me.

…I swear, I’ll get there as soon as I can.

…That guy just got a job, and that other guy just lost his. It’s kind of sad how that works.

…Gotta make the most while the clock’s still ticking.

 

--We’re talking 1,300 children.

--So, your measurement stick is the number of children abused by a guy, not just some guy abusing one or two?

…How did I get here and how I am I still even here?

…You can understand, right, how I’ll never again believe anything else you ever say?

…Those shoes are awfully quiet.

…Red, red wine.

…No, no, no. It’s art, what we do. Even if no one recognizes it as such.

…You know what I’m going to do right now?

…There’s always a work-around anymore, you just have to know which one it is.

…The thing I’ve noticed a lot lately is, everyone’s so young.

…I’ve never been good at shaking hands, though my hands often shake too much.

…So you think it’s that simple, do you?

…I set all my regrets on fire cause I know I’ll never take the time to unpack my missteps

…“You see shit every day that makes you feel like you should be more successful, have more money, have this, have that, whatever the fuck it is, but it’s not reality. Because when do you stop?” Ben Simmons

…Sometimes you think you can get it back, but you can’t, no way.

…It’s Murphy’s Law. There’s nothing to be done about it.

…What I’ve found is that if you don’t write it down, it doesn’t mean anything.

…I don’t want to ruin the surprise.

…On second thought, I should probably get that button fixed, right?

…“You don’t look so great yourself.”

…You know it’s just a movie, right?

…Huh, that’s weird, or is it just me?

 

--Who are you trying to be today?

--I thought I’d be me.

--Is that a good idea?

--Yeah, you're right. Probably not.

…I’m not sure what normal is anymore.

…In case you’re wondering, this is what 2 a.m. looks like.

…If you see me on Monday, treat me like a pooch—just pat my head and don’t say anything.

…We can always mourn, come Wednesday.

…Really? Seriously? I need an AFIB alert, first thing, this early?

…“Shut up. Just keep reading.”

…I hope I marked up the right pages.

…You have to be very careful with exclamation marks. They call a lot of attention to themselves, like some people I know.

…But everything is relative.

…“Never open your life jacket on the plane.”

…Love your babies—they’re all you’ve got.

…I love animals and dogs a LOT. But it’s hard to love a bulldog. I’m not sure how so many people do it.

…They say I’m unappealing when I shoot my shot.

…Let’s just let it sit and settle a bit. Then we’ll decide.

…I’m going to go ahead and carry the weight this time, all the way across the finish line.

 

 

…National debt crosses $40 trillion

The U.S. national debt crossed $40 trillion on Tuesday, according to newly released data from the Treasury Department.

…In the past 40 years, 20 presidents have amassed $200 million their entire time in office while Trump has made over $2 Billion in 500 days.

… News Alert: Trump announces ‘most crushing economic operation ever’ against Iran

(Then why did he start a war? And why did he start a war when he swore a year ago he’d “obliterated” Iran’s total nuclear arsenal?)

How do people stand this guy's fucking bullshit?  

… TX Gov. Abbott takes aim at Muslim washing stations in airports

Legal experts say his attack fits a pattern of anti-Muslim actions and rhetoric.

(Why does this matter, what Muslims do or don't do? Do you not have bigger problems to solve in your state? I can name a dozen off the top of my head. This is just total bigotry.)

 …ICE begins deporting Haitians who lost TPS back to homeland

Community leaders said Thursday’s removal flight was one of the largest they had seen and included people who were detained in recent weeks.

The first deportation flight to Haiti since the Trump administration ended humanitarian protections for 350,000 people living in the United States landed Thursday in the Caribbean nation, and activists say immigration arrests are beginning to ramp up

The flight carrying 170 people, ranging in age from 19 to 71, landed in Cap-Haitien, on the northern coast of Haiti.

(That is one of the sickest things I’ve ever seen, but then again, this was just Thursday. There’s a reason they had fucking protected status, you assholes, and now you’re going to just deport 350,000 of them so ICE can reach their quota?)

…I decided to call him a monster from now on. Monsters are, by and large, quite stupid. Satan is smart. This guy is the farthest thing from intelligent—evil, sure, but dumb as fuck.

…When I read, or think, about the monster too much, I tend to swear a lot. I apologize.

…Sometimes small battles are emblematic of much bigger wars.

…There’s no chance the moon’s showing up tomorrow at noon, same as there’s no chance I’m dying after my friends do, thank God.

 

--What in the hell is wrong with you?

--No one knows, exactly.

…I always thought there’d be so much more, but you’re right—hidey ho’. 

…I’ve never watched a single episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond” where I haven’t laughed. Like, NEVER. And I’ve rarely laughed less than half an hour during each episode, though each episode only runs 22 minutes, sans commercials.

 

--Is this a good idea?

--Might as well find out. 

--Will you tell me if it is?

--Nope.

--Why not?

--We’re no longer talking.

--We aren’t?

--Nope. 

--Thank God.

…I’ve got more to say, but this’ll do it for now, Amigo.

 

—I DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING

 

Die Harder

 

I fell in love with a steam train because it smelled like you—oily, somewhat loose, yet determined. I road it all the way to Lancaster, window seat, jaw-to-jaw with the glass, staring at the landscape flashing by like a life lived too fast.

In the reflection, I saw us young again, your curls and skateboard dimples, smiling as if you wanted to be hugged or merely tucked in. I watched the bouquet tremble behind my back as your father sized me up, not knowing there was already something growing inside you that that we’d made beforehand.

Prior to stopping, the whistle blew an alert, but I was already gone by then, holding onto the rails like John McClane.

I died, then died harder, remembering you and us, how close we were to Heaven.

—LATELY, I REMEMBER ALL THE THINGS YOU TAUGHT ME

 …I know I know I know, it’s not fucking Friday yet.  Wait, it’s only Monday? I guess I’m jumping the gun.

…Plus, I’m the first one up again.

…We passed 6,000,000 views overnight. It’s pretty staggering and humbling to me. 

…“Len, S T O P talking.”

…That’s maybe one of my favorite things anyone has ever said to me, and coming from that guy, it means a lot.

…It feels like I’ve got a lot to say, so buckle up, Sparky.

…This wasn’t supposed to happen, but, hey, it did.

…Why do we all get fat? Why is that? I’m asking seriously.

…“Eat your Fucking Fish!”

…But what if I can’t be the strong one I’m supposed to be? What then?

…I would fix those typos if I could. You know I would. 

…The only productive things I’ve done this weekend were, floss twice, mentor a deer family, and pick a shit load of berries.

…I guess that’s life in the country.

…Boy, don’t come around here if you have any sense.

…Wouldn’t you give your heart to a friend? Think of me as friend.

…Today is going to be a long day, but it’s going to be a good one, and isn’t that such a lucky thing?

…It still feels like Lucy’s there, a foot away from my left leg, waiting to be startled awake.

…I didn’t finish my manuscript. Lazy ass. I think too much—like why does it matter?

…I lost my mouse this morning for a spell. It kind of wigged me out, because any lapse in techy stuff freaks me out. But then I just asked the ether how to get my mouse back, and like that, it told me, and she came to me.

…There are a million reasons to leave, but you just need that one to stay.

…Are you sure that’s not a shooting star?

…I’m supposed to lift today, but there are youngsters (do people still use that word?) downstairs.

…I was picking the other day, and a momma deer and two really young, scrawny fawns were chomping on the fallen apples, literally two feet from me. I talked to them and they seemed to acknowledge me. They never budged or bolted. We all felt safe. I picked berries and they kept eating. It was astonishing and pretty special.

…Can you really choose happiness? Really? Is it just that easy?

…Brevity is almost always the best option, if you’re looking for a way out.

…Someday I’m going to remember all this shit, but I’m not sure what good it’ll do me.

…Maybe I need a second cup, stronger this time.

…I guess I’m wondering what I’m guessing.

…Sometimes life is a drag. It just is. You don’t always get to choose.

,,.Have you ever seen, “Big Fish”? If not, you’ve missed out. I think about that movie all the time.

…I’m not making this up, but I think you think I am.

…Stop teasing me.

…I think it’s important to have a Zoom camera, if you can. But it’s freaky to watch these delivery guys walk right up to your front door at all hours of the night.

…“Start with a glass of water after waking up.”

…This is a contest I definitely don’t want to enter because I just might be the lucky winner out of OVER FOUR HUNDRED entries, so far-- Over 400 Contest Entries So Far!

…I think it’s okay to talk about dying if you don’t get all weird about it. It’s going to happen, so why dance around as if it’s not?

…Good luck with all of that.

…When you have a best friend who’s dead, you think about them all the time, what they’re thinking, how they’d help you out of a situation, and it makes no sense whatsoever, because they’re dead, though they’re not really.

…I’ll do that. Okay. Yeah. 

…This is brilliance, inside out, which so few have seen…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjaIB5BzJDw&list=RDCjaIB5BzJDw&start_radio=1

…Sometimes I push “Save” when I shouldn’t, and sometimes I don’t when I really need to.

…Wait, what was I just trying to do?

…You should have seen those kids, in Cosplay last night. It was total Errol Flynn Robin Hood. Utterly fantastic. Kids...

…Can I trust you? That’s always going to be my measuring stick.

…I wish I was a lightweight like you. It’d solve a lot of problems, but it’d probably create a lot more that are bubbling on the surface.

 

--Who goes to bed at 8:00? 7:30?

--Who doesn’t? 

 

…Our ideas held no water, but we used them like a dam.

…I think I did. Maybe. I don’t know.

…Technically speaking, I think I’m still winning, but just barely.

…“Feeling awesome!” Well, that’s a lie if there ever was one. 

…You look like you’ve been here before.

…I have lots of stuff I could have posted, per usual, but thanks so much for indulging me. I know I run off the rails sometimes.

…"But I did find the entire world, in looking for something. I got saved by poetry, and I got saved by the beauty of the world." Mary Oliver 

…I remember: You picked sunrises and I picked sunsets. We could talk about that, probably forever. 

…Muscle memory---that can be helpful, or that can be a bitch.  

…Time is no friend of mine.

…I swear that deer was talking to me yesterday, even if he never moved his mouth even once.

…“What about all of those apples over there?”

…Just look at those apples. Look at all of them.

…Look—I cut this off way shorter than I ever thought I could. I saved you from a lot of needless blather.

 

—BEEN A COUPLE OF MINUTES SINCE YOU CROSSED MY MIND

 

…I was trying to be funny, but the joke’s on me.

…I might be in a mess that I can’t clean up.

…I did battle with the bushes yesterday—I’ve got marks and scabs to prove it—but I’m still not sure which of us won.

…It won’t be the first time, but it might be the last.

…It’s official—I’ve played the new Role Model to death. I can even sound out every instrument.

…Audrey Hobart is a wonder. This is true.

…Why bother underlining it, or paying attention to it, if you’re never going to use it?

…Sorry that your dog died.

…“His name is Mac Miller. It’s spelled M-a-c…

…“Romance and death travel on the same boat.” Reka Nyitrai, With a swan’s nest on her back

…It seems like I’m the kind of person who never learns from mistakes, no matter how many he makes.

…Hey, look, it’s almost midnight. Are you there?

…$TARFACE, the new release by Tyga, received Pitchfork’s first 0.0 rating in 19 years. Here’ what they had to say: “The rapper’s slop-pop concept album is smug and complacent and depressing. Its very existence has made the world a worse place.” Ouch. I guess I love the brutal honesty of the (entire) review, but that’s the type of thing that can stop an artist from ever trying to create art again.

…I recently learned this: Only 2% of actors make a living solely from the profession. 

…I know just what you’re thinking, coming down from the high.

 …Everyone’s too beautiful and what’s sad is they all know it.

…I wish I was beautiful.

…If you think a Muslim mayor in NCY is threatening your kids, or grandkids, when you live way the fuck over in North Dakota, well, you and I have problems and I suggest you buy yourself a really big vibrator with extra batteries and go to town. Treat yourself. Let off some steam.  It could help you see more clearly.

…Who’s that knocking at my door? Better be an angel four-four-four.

…It’s late, just clicking midnight Thursday, but I might get one last—"Song is All You Get”—in before it’s over.

…Yeah, I know—we’re all busy, but you can’t at least reply.

…(…)

…It might be a fire I can’t stop.

…In this case, it’s probably smart not to be too smart.

…“Sir, you’re annoying my customers.”

…Damnit, I’m trying. I’m the only one crying.

…I don’t why I give him so much of my energy. I wish I could be more like most of my friends who shrug it off or look the other way, but I fucking can’t.

 …From the NYT yesterday: It’s natural to envy your friends

…Every man’s greatest fear is that he’s a pussy. It totally sounds sexist, but it’s true.

…Just look around. Everything you could possibly want is here temporarily.

…Things look a lot different these days. Maybe that’s okay, but it sure doesn’t feel like it.

…Balloons. Who doesn’t love balloons? You can never have too many balloons.

…“Stop ordering so many books.”

…I did it, but I hated all that other stuff.

…It’s the hardest thing, not to reach for the lap.

…I like to know who I’m playing with.

 

…”It’s not just the Odyssey effect: poetry is booming because it’s the only language for these times of violence and chaos

Charlotte Higgins

From Homer’s epic to conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, we can see how poetry fills the gap when ordinary ways of writing or speaking aren’t enough

Mon 10 Aug 2026 03.00 EDT

The biggest sales of poetry since records began are expected this year. The reason? The movies, of course. UK print sales of The Odyssey increased by 1,400% in the four weeks to 25 July compared with the same period last year. In the US, year-to-date sales of The Odyssey are up 76% so far. Christopher Nolan is doing miracles for Homer – whatever problems one might have with the movie (and Emily Wilson, who made the most popular recent translation, has a few).

…I think the key to life is you pay attention. You notice things that others dismiss without knowing it. That’s what poets do.

…I wish I had a best friend who was techy and available.

…I’ve got a best friend who can’t stand up in the waves anymore, and I’d take him over anyone, anyday.

…I got an ad on my phone the other day to buy a cap that said IDK, IDC, & IDGAF. That made me laugh.

…We had that one night, last July, I kissed you, thinking I’d have you satisfied. If I’m being honest, I could use another try.

…Maybe once I get there I’ll know, but who will I have to tell it to?

…“His name is Mac Miller. M-a-c…” I know—a second time, but it really haunts me.

…It’ll still three strikes, as far as I know.

…Well, that was bound to happen—the erasure of everything.

,..But I’m still holding on, hoping prayer actually works.

 

…Well, if you’re dead, what’re still you doing here, standing beside my desktop every fucking day?

 

…But the barflies took the jukebox back.

 

…It always depends upon how you look at it, right? Or the angle. Or the memories you twist into it.

 

…I guess I don’t know where we’re going anymore.

 

…You could have kissed me any time you liked.

 

…I’d really feel more comfortable if you blinked once or twice.

 

…Wait, is that the same cloud from yesterday?

 

…Wait, what? Role Model?

 

…I don’t want to be lame, but maybe I am.

 

…Sometimes you get a drink. Sometimes you get nothing.  Sometimes you walk away worse than before, but that’s still something.

 

…One of the things I’ve learned is there is no perfect wave, even if people tell you differently.

 

…As long as you know it, what does it matter if no one else does?

 

…Love songs don’t come easily, but I lean into the melody.

 

…Somehow, inexplicably, I lost the file I’d logged all my published pieces onto—1,395. I don’t know how it happened or where they went, but I’ve looked and looked and they’re gonorrhea.

 

--Do you really believe you can jinx something?

--Don’t you?

--I’m not sure.

--Wake up and smell the toast burning.

 

…One thing you definitely don’t want to see right now is my desk. Or my ankles.

 

…People tell me Friday is too long, so I think I’m going to cut this post off early and just leave the other 20 pages dangling, sitting there on the barstool with a short one in their palm.

…I’ve only got a few tricks left, and I do mean only a few.

…I guess we’ll see how that goes.