untitled, 1928 (detail)

this girl on her knees
in the bathroom
and the man she says she loves

the man she lives with
in a different bar in another
part of town with another woman

the way that art is
more violence than beauty

ask dali
as his bed catches fire

ask pollock
as he's thrown from the car

the world only matters
if you can change it

an enemy is someone
you would only fuck for money

and if i tell you
that i believe in christ
then you need to understand
that i also believe in crucifixion

i believe in war
only because i can't stop it

only because there are
33,000 ghosts scaling the walls of
the babi yar ravine

and who was it that invented the
machine gun and why?

look in the mirror

four walls and
a god you'll never see
won't make you safe

keep a weapon beneath your bed
but don't expect it to be enough

remember cobain and his shotgun

remember john geoghan found
strangled to death in
his prison cell

all of the children he molested

will you piss on his grave?

will you consider forgiveness?

and maybe you know the girl
rinsing her mouth out in the sink

maybe you buy her a beer
when she pushes
her way back to the bar

all of our small
desperate actions dragging us
relentlessly towards some
sort of future