Save the Strangers

You asked for a hug

which is one of those ordinary things

that strangers should share

but don't

because strangers are terribly busy

being strangers

I managed to be extraordinary

for a moment

managed to put aside

the strangeness of the moment

and give you an honest hug

or a half

I pulled away

too soon

pulled back into this stranger self

before you were done

before you got

whatever it was you needed

And you stumbled

like I let you down

which I did

so I apologized

apologized for being so strange

for not being enough

I thought to ask you to dinner

when I got home

to ask you about the children

they pay you to save

the little strangers
demanding to be fed

Selling Something

I get mad

when people suggest I should care

and don't provide

the requisite video montage

don't set

don't stop believing

to sync up with their spiel

I'm a modern day man

and demand

on-demand imagination

sentimental pornography

of pay-per-view children

with flies on their faces

and distended bellies

For a dollar a day

I could tend that belly

and get updated monthly

or weekly

or daily

on the child's blog

I ate today

I'd write in the comments

I ate today too

and leave my name

as anonymous

the dollar a day guy

who doesn't really care

but genuflects just the same

A Monologue For Two

Whenever we talk

I get the sense that neither of us

is listening

which is the best sort of talk

you can ask for

and receive

It's this sense

that neither of us really cares

what the other one is saying

that we're taking turns

talking

to ourselves

We're polite enough

to inject interjections

in the gaps

of the others' monologue

when it becomes necessary

to take a breath

But the words

have no real meaning

and the stories

end up back where they started

so when one of us stops

the other begins

It's not that we're boring

or overly narcissistic

we just like listening

to the sound of our voices

telling us things

we already know

Idyll Conversation

She's waiting for the question
close upon my lips
waiting for me
to set her answer in motion

The way she chews her words
makes me wonder
if this conversation
is instead regurgitation

It's almost charming
in a pastoral
cow chewing its cud
sort of fashion

Almost charming
in a cow taking a dump
sort of boredom
with what comes next

I'm happy for this moment
watching her mouth
waiting for me
to set her in motion

A Laughing Matter

I'm not supposed to be amused
but it's funny
to find all this sentiment
rising to the surface
some ten years down the road
some ten years removed
between then and now
and nothing has changed

There's an obligation
to mourn for all the dead
all those who continue to die
in the shortsighted pursuit of justice
of domestic tranquility
achieved through international hostility
as if the production of war
wasn't a joke in poor taste

I actually laughed
to see the president on youtube
to see the progress of our war
of terror
to see the vacant truth
that people are already disputing
that one more death
can be given meaning

This is our movement towards hope
hope for a future
where the dead don't lie nameless
away from their homes
where we don't demand bodies
to remind us we're alive
to borrow the sight
of those forever blind