ITHURIEL'S SPEAR

 

 

CL Bledsoe



 
 
 
 


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Blend In          

                                                      1
Diamond tipped carelessness     cuts glass
            making it hard to see through     without seeing two
images     one thing I swore I'd never tell her     was that I never loved
            anyone     When life gets hard     buy a baseball cap     a pair
of khakis     tennis shoes     that cost more     than any book     you've ever read
            blend in like whipped egg.     Buy a truck or an SUV     park it at
precisely the most obstructive point     in any parking lot
            then stand slightly away from it     point back at it     and say
look at that SUV (or truck) parked
at precisely the most obstructive
point in the parking lot
I bet the guy who drives it    
has a huge penis
           
            Either that or start carrying an     axe     carve your name
into the paint jobs of decadence     You've either got to give it up
            right away     or earn your soul back     through strenuous     ongoing
complaining     Heard a noise
in the streets     of celebration     Thought it might be Jesus
coming back but it was just the McRib     That     I can afford
 
                                                 2
Children throw rocks     into the calm center     of my solitude
            this is a nice way of saying     the world     wouldn't be
so bad     if it weren't     for all the billboards     the smell of rotten meat
            lingering in the parking lot     of the doctor's office     the need
to piss     in alleyways     (you can deny it's you
            but someone is doing it)     the warm murmur of the herd
letting me know     no one in this room     would find anything
            I care about     remotely interesting     This is the sort of thing
sets us     buying soiled undies     online     You must be ever vigilant
            you don't let your friends know     they've become
everything you hate
           
                                                   3
Smug smile like it was his idea the sun shone today     that's fine     but take
                        responsibility for everything else    
spilled coffee on the crotch of exuberance     growing cold     leaking through
                        to stain her strap-on
Whose idea was it     to make life so easy
                        to avoid
Son of a bitch     pulled out     in front of me     on my way
            to the ice cream place
then sped up
            so I couldn't complain
                        without feeling a little silly