15 and stoned, you were
writing about the war and he was
bleeding from the eyes
age of innocence, motherfucker,
age of meaningless crosses spray painted on
rusting brick walls
said
you gotta eat but
the house was on fire
the city was in ruins
kids you knew from school took this dog
out into the woods past the cemetery,
cut off its ears, its tail, gouged out
its eyes and he laughs when he
tells her the story
says the world is full of empty spaces just
waiting to be filled and
she says i don’t understand you
tells him i will outlive all of your
useless bullshit and he shrugs
tells her it’s been the season of
glass for 35 years now and he has no
use for heroes
says it’s a nation of assholes with guns,
asks what can you do besides keep
voting for the wrong jackoff?
but i was
talking about my childhood here
i was thinking about the dream you
had last night
was thinking about my own
the children were lost or
maybe it was me
was riding my bike through some
almost-known landscape,
light rain,
storm approaching,
and i was probably naked
was probably bleeding
some girl i’d never seen before,
not you, not her,
at the side of the road said
the age of enlightenment is dead,
motherfucker, and
held out what was left of the dog
asked what can you do, really,
but keep choosing between murder
and suicide?
and i wake up to the
sound of sirens
and the kingdom is near
