—I’VE DONE A HUNDRED SONGS, FROM FANTASIES TO LIES 

 

Planet of the Apes

 

They let the monkeys out and the chimps ran amok

The monkeys ran faster than anyone expected

They ran across town like a black blur of flies

They ran for office and won

They ran the libraries and banned our favorite books

They ran interference between fact and fiction

They ran the district and the state and the entire country

They ran our lives telling us who we could or couldn’t love

They ran carrying bombs while dropping leaflets for peace         

    that were littered with calligraphy and lies

They ran the dying newspapers printing fake news

They ran the hospitals withholding vaccines

They ran our computers and phones 

They ran photocopier businesses and put their grinning   

     mugs on everything from stamps to passports

They ran the border around everyone else’s border

They ran Madame Tussauds and replicated themselves as 

      Jesus the Pope a king and warlord

They ran the schools and colleges but closed them all and    

      homeschooled us instead

They ran the gun shops and kept every weapon fully loaded

 

—I HOPE YOU DON’T TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY

  

…Fuck that guy. I’m serious—Fuck that guy.

 

…Go, Becky, Go!

 

…“She said, ‘I think I’d like you better if you took off your clothes’.” The 1975

 

…Is that true? 

 

…Someone somewhere is just waking up. That’s for sure.

 

…Where would I be if I wasn’t in my brain all the time?

 

…Talk about foreplay. Good Lord.

 

…If you want it bad enough, it’s yours.

 

…One of the greatest lines ever—"The dregs are both the worst, and best, part.”

 

…Boy, how about a nap? Because you seem like you really need a nap right now.

  

…I’m going to regret all of this tomorrow again. Again. Again.

 

…I’ve gotta be careful because they only give you one heart, even if it’s a used model. 

 

…I wanna get better.

 

…If you’re doing it right, listening is never passive.

 

…I really don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t write anymore. Probably just close the curtains.

 

…All right then. Let’s figure it out.

 

...“That Fucker, he kept stepping on my dick all day. I mean, what was I supposed to do?”

 

…I really miss her.

…The guy next door sounds very angry. I know he’s wearing a trucker hat, but I sure hope he’s Blue.

…F.D.A. Blocked Publication of Research Finding Covid and Shingles Vaccines Were Safe

…Really, why do we even have an F.D.A.?

 

… FBI raiding office of Virginia Senator who led redistricting push

…Why do we still have the FBI when all they are are tools of the alt right?

 

…G.O.P. Proposes $1 Billion for Security Improvements in Ballroom Project

 

…Where do we just get a BILLION DOLLARS for a BALLROOM after we’ve ALREADY spent $30 BILLION DOLLARS on a nonsensical war with Iran that hasn’t even ended yet?

Under DOGE, we eliminated all aid to USAID which saved over a MILLION lives in AFRICA a year, and our contribution to USAID was $1.2 a year. We have literally killed a million people this year for a fucking ballroom.

…Does no one care about what’s going on?

 

…“Is there anything else you’d like to mention a few hundred times more?”

 

…Maybe.

 

…“During the Presidential Physical Fitness Youth Challenge signing ceremony in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump told a young girl, in front of a room full of people, that her height would stop her from ever playing volleyball. Yes, at an event literally designed to hype kids up.” Yahoo, 4/6/26

 

… Eighty-seven percent of Americans have a negative view of Trump’s social media post appearing to depict himself as Jesus, according to the poll. Sixty-nine percent dislike Hegseth praying at the Pentagon for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

 

…Who IN THE FUCK prays for that? Are you even kidding me?

 

…Here’s where you’re supposed to be careful.

 

...Remember, we both went to college. We can figure this out.

 

…Ginger.

 

 

 “Sometimes I wonder if we’ll ever know the truth about anything.”

  

…“There’s a whole TikTok about that.”

 

…“You can be a real asshole sometimes. Do you know that?”

 

…I may, or may not be, completely in love with Jack Antonoff.

  

...Sha la la la la lalala.

 

…Now I’ll say it straight. I wrote this song about you.

 

…Social media, if you’re on it, figures you out really quick and the algorithms align right away. Sometimes I get tired of the same old thing, but then I think—look: those are poems and these are all writers and if I was nine years old this would be what Heaven looks like. 

 

…I’ve got a lot of thoughts about that video. Like you’re the genius I’ve been counting on, yet you do that?

 

…Sometimes, I just cut-and-paste without looking, which is a bad move.  You should always look first, check both sideways mirrors or the one right in front of you.

 

…Schecky. Shylock. Not even close.

 

…I suspect today will be a long day. I should shut up and stop my bitching. How many people get those, long days?

 

…I’m glad I deleted those other posts. 

 

…“Nobody else seemed to notice that the world had been spinning in the opposite direction, or that the air was thinner this way around, or that the sun felt like ice.” Lily King, The Pleasing Hour 

 

…Good luck with that.

 

…The good news is ___  _____ ___ ______.

 

…I still remember all those reasons why.

 

…It doesn’t just go away.

 

…I can’t believe you’re arguing with me about this.

 

…I keep pinching and it’s still there. But how?

 

…Shut up and drink your dead coffee.

 

…I guess I guess I guess.

 

…As far as Fridays go, this has been a lengthy one already and it’s not even started yet.

 

…Why is that such an effort? You read a few lines. You think about them. You write a few lines yourself. You hit Send. That’s how friendship is supposed to work today.

 

…I guess I’ll never know, and you won’t either.

 

…Who saw this happening?

 

…This is the most important one. Our last chance. Whatever we do, let’s not fuck it up again.

 

…I felt so stupid, how I tried and tried but I still couldn’t figure it out. I felt like a little kid wearing his dad’s Easter suit.

 

…It’s probably a bad sign when you see a boat on the lake with an American flag and your first impulse is to sink it.

 

…“I owe you a black eye and two kisses.

Tell me when you wanna come get em.”

     --Ethel Cain

 

…I looked at the clock and it looked back at me without blinking.

 

…The problem with wearing pants is they make you feel fat when you sit down.

 

….I’m probably going to get arrested and imprisoned soon, but, to quote John Mellencamp, “Ain’t that America?”

…Can’t we just sit on your deck, watch the old duffers and look for hummingbirds while sipping short ones? We’ll laugh at stupid shit and I’ll walk you to bed if need be. That sounds pretty damn sweet about now.

 

…I felt safe then.

 

—IT’S A BEAUTIFUL CURSE 

 

Lake Charles

  

I was making the 

same mistake again,

looking back. 

A car turned too 

sharply on the road. 

All I saw was smoke 

and tufts of dander. 

There were still miles to walk. 

I asked a scarecrow 

on the way where 

Lake Charles was but 

he just hung there, 

smug and familiar, 

proud as he should be, 

his thumbs crushed and

pointing nowhere.

 

—THERE’S A LINE AROUND THE BLOCK TO GET INSIDE YOUR HEAD

 

 

Dramamine

 

There’s a body

inside my body

with a note

tucked inside

that I never sent

and despite its title

this poem is

not about

sleep or death.

Regret? You’ll

have to ask me

later when I’m

sober and the

honeybees land

like lashes of hope

on the daisies.

 

—IT’S THE SEASON OF THE STICKS

 

 

--Are you buying?

--Not whatever you’re selling.

 

…I’m the one in the empty row.

 

…I’ve set my bar for joy a lot lower.

 

…You look like you don’t believe me.

 

--Would you ever be surprised if I actually killed myself?

--Have you read your blog?

 

…Hearing an old man say, “Aww, Fuck,” off the tee is kind of special.

 

…“Do you think I tell you too much?”

 

…Typos—I hate them, but they’re kind of like regrets—you just have to let them go, even if you don’t want to.

 

…I know, I know, I’m almost done.

 

…Yeah, I realize I should have done that when I had the chance. 

 

…I may or may not be. Your call on that.

 

…Do you cry because you have to or because you don’t have a choice?

 

…You got it mostly right. I’ll give you props for that.

 

…You once called me forever, now you still can’t call me back.

 

…This is why you always bring extra books.

 

…You should drive more because God knows you’re a good driver. Patient, too.

 

…“It felt good to give something away, that which hadn’t been asked for.” Lily King

 

…I hope you know what you’re doing.

 

…Words aren’t always the most reliable things.

 

…The really great thing about tomorrow is that it’s there.

 

…Because I’m not sure. I’m never sure. Is that enough?

 

…I’m pretty sure I have nothing left to tell you, but let me know if I’m wrong about that.

 

...Water—what a concept!

 

…What time is it there?

 

…Pentagon Puts Iran War Cost at $25 Billion

 

…Try trying to respond to that irony.

 

…Supreme Court Further Weakens Voting Rights Act

 

…It doesn’t always come out in the wash.

 

…TIME TO STAND

“Try to reduce your stress level, and if you somehow succeed please let me know how in God’s name you did it.”

 

…I’m living in the backseat.

 

…This is a pretty good song, though.

 

…I’m well aware that I cling too much, but I only do so with the ones I love most.

 

…Message to STEVE LEATHAM failed to Send.

 

…You must have had yourself a change of heart like halfway through the drive.

…“She was aware that the story you think you know is never the real one.” Lily King

 

…My mouth was designed for my foot to fit in it.

 

…That was funny for a while.

 

…Wow. I got nothing.

 

…Someday, I think, I won’t look at all.

 

…Talk about a train wreck, I wish you could see it? Shouldn’t you be the one to see it? If not you, I guess I’ve got no one.

 

...I’m going to leave it at that.

 

…It’s been a beautiful, tough night. Have your you ever had one? No? Lucky you.

 

…Here we go.

 

…There you go again.

 

...Silly boy.

 

…Okay, lets let it play. It’s just Middle School Kids after all.

 

…I don’t know much, but I don’t think it’s supposed to feel like this.

 

…Tell me again, please, about being happy.

 

…You don’t always see how other people are shaping you.

 

…“Carry on. You can do this. This is important.” Lily King

 

…There’s a shotgun over there, but I swear I’ve never seen it before.

 

…Maybe we’ll actually make it this time. Expiration date and all that.

 

…“I thought we had time. Despite everything, I believed we had time. Love’s first mistake. Love’s only mistake.” Lily King 

 

…Please let’s not play at anything.

 

…I’ve used up all my tricks.

 

…There is no one alive who can possibly play a song that he loves as much as me on repeat.

 

…You can definitely tinker with poems too much, until they lose their original meaning or intent.

 

…I wrote that a hundred different ways.

 

…The key, with almost everything, is telling yourself, “That’s enough.”

 

…Maybe I’ll be better when I’m older.

 

…Yes, yes, I would. I would love a glass of wine right now.

 

…I must have missed it again.

 

…I guess I don’t know what that means.

 

…Who’s at fault here, and why does it matter?

 

…Remember when you said you felt like  ________?

 

…Who am I kidding?

 

—I DON’T KNOW MUCH, BUT I DO KNOW THIS

 

 

 

Sweet Disposition

 

this morning smells like 

your hair 

before breakfast

and that bluejay has 

your same  

sea glass green eyes

 

but the dog 

the dog still won’t 

move when I toss the ball 

he just sits there 

watching each cloud 

flirt with you

—I GOT YOUR NUMBER OFF THE WALL

 

Peace

 

There was nothing left to do, 

so they took turns shooting each other.

Each bullet hit, blood spraying windows

and wallpaper, all kinds of crimson.

 

In the morning, the one still breathing 

took aim again, the shot just missing his heart 

but ricocheting off a framed photo of sunflowers

leaning into the corn-colored glare where a pair of

children were either hiding or laughing behind them, 

holding up peace sign fingers.