Songs without Words

consumption

Justin Lo, 7370

“you have one hundred tokens”
is what Mother told me.

glittery spinning blinking glowing
arcade
life is like this

one hundred tokens to spend
“come back here when you’re done”
she’s smiling
dancing, waiting like a leprechaun
tears welling up under the glasses
i don’t catch them

one hundred tokens to spend

glittery spinning blinking glowing
arcade
life is like this

i throw down five for a racing game
five more to play pool
ten for a couple slices of pizza
give away twenty to a nice girl i meet!

five for fighting aliens
five for training as a policeman
five for zapping zombies
five for something i can’t remember

forty tokens to spend

Three gone in the war; I lost seven more when I got shot;
I tried to find myself again with a different woman, but she only
Took away five more
And then moved out;
I threw away five more trying to party and drink my way out;
Landed in the hospital with only twenty to spare.
Escaped – five more trying to find myself in Europe (traveling),
And five more trying to write an autobiography (failed),
And then,
In the end,
I spent the last ten for ten seconds of flying.
One for each second;

glittery spinning blinking glowing
arcade
life is like this

I don’t like taking showers with ants;

No, I don’t like it at all.

Sometimes I want to spray them with water

And then watch them fall.

How do the ants get there?

There are cracks in the ceiling:

Just look up and you’ll see –

The caulking is peeling!

A vase is
Slender like fingers enwrapped
In tender gauze.
Gripping it unapologetically
As if it weren’t alive,
Who are you to say
That as long as it doesn’t fall,
It will never shatter?

4.15.06