​I see the boy
sitting by himself in the park
He looks nervous twitching
fingers scratching at his crotch
 
He’s there to meet some friends
They come in an instant
The boy stands there silently as
all his friends converse
 
I see them walk away
I follow them
down lonely streets filled
with wild action
 
The boy and his friends
hurry after the moment
I follow them through
the alley where drugs are sold
 
One of his friends suggests
they buy some drugs
from the nice older gentleman
with his hands in his pockets
 
A toothpick set on his tongue
the man passes
a bag of something naughty
to the kids they are off
 
I keep a close eye on the boy
He stays hidden in the pack
as they stroll across the bridge
vanish around the back
 
They descend the steps
I follow them to the edge
I know the boy would someday
find himself drowning
 
I watch them from atop
the bridge as they each
take a turn smoking the pipe
This isn’t pot I smell
 
It smells bitter someone coughs
Someone is talking fast
Someone is talking faster
I see their twitching bodies
 
The boy sits there and stares at
the river as I stand on the ledge
He’s quiet
He seems lonely
 
I watch them talk
like nothing in the world
matters at this moment
The boy is silent
 
He watches as three fishes
flee from the menacing snake
which slithers
on the surface of the wakes
 
The boy is so quiet
His friends speak of dreams
The boy takes the pipe
flies away or so it seems
 
He disappears down
a burnt maze of ashes
He runs as his approaching destiny
devours him like cereal
 
I watch him fall
from the sky in a visceral
kaleidoscopic tumble
Confetti is everywhere
 
I stand there on the bridge
The boy comes down fast
crashes into the river
I feel an abrupt sadness
 
and anger
when his friends keep smoking
because they are just too
fucked up to care
 
The boy is flailing
thrashing his arms & legs
His friends couldn’t even fathom
that this might happen to them

​My heart is a to-do list
 
that never gets completed
 
My soul is like a date book
 
that never gets addressed
 
My mind is a series
 
of unfortunate events
 
My spirit is a coloring book
 
that never gets its shades

​I was unsure
about where I was going
but I was determined
to go there
 
with both feet facing forward
Someone once said
rather than test the temperature
of the water
 
with my foot
as most sane people do
I dive right in
no holding back
 
I was to get married
to a woman
I had dated for
an entire tumultuous six months
 
I was in for a surprise
Nothing good in my life
ever lasted for very long
I knew this to be true
 
I sat beside her every day
for an entire year
or more
before the snowball took form
 
and once it rolled
it grew, and as it grew
we danced to the tune
of a homeless piano player
 
above the Skinny Pancake
It was a surprise
I was a scared little boy about
to step into his big boy pants
 
We got married, just us two
and her daughter
in an artistic loft
located above Skinny Pancake
 
We met the woman
who would act as our officiant
for the event
in the restaurant downstairs
 
It was very lowkey
She led us upstairs
through a hallway
lined with artistic depictions
 
She brought us to
a large room with
a piano in the corner
and there was a homeless man
 
seated behind the piano
playing a beautiful tune
that would be the theme
for the future proceedings
 
He didn’t cost anything
but I might have given him
some money in the end
which he stuffed inside his pack
 
Then he wandered off
in his ragged clothing
and the officiant took pictures of us
the groom the bride & the daughter
 
outside in the blowing wind
throwing the leaves around
her blond hair flowing
and my green eyes glowing