Worshipping False Gods or Traveling With My Parents

"They're building another church!"
my Lutheran-born mother
doesn't like the Lutheran church

my dad bought a TomTom
it says
turn right
we turn right
it says
turn left
we turn left
I say, "what a piece of shit"
TomTom says
straight on

wow

i said something so profound
that the TA had to pause
and utter "wow...that's..."
he was flabbergasted

the class looked up at me
smiling, amazed
the girl who keeps trying to talk to me
gave me a knowing nod

i felt great
i felt better than great
i was biking with immense speed
i passed three people
i was an acceptable human being

i was so glad
he didn't ask me to elaborate

PHDs glance
serendipitously
at their assistants perfect
bottoms

they feel sleazy about it
five minutes later

smells like sex
when she arrives
home is my
Native American
name

if I could

I would write this feeling down

on a little piece of paper

let it slip from my hand

over the edge

recoil quickly as the wind

carried it upward and away

among the buildings

and towards an ocean

to be lost among

the waves

Ode to Snuggle Bear

Hey.
I know 20 years is a long time
for anything to be alive
There's been a lot of falling
down the cracks

Hey.
I know 20 years is a long time
to be suffocated underneath it all
There's been a lot of squeezing
and crying

Hey.
I know 20 years is a long time
to be this faithful to somebody
There's been a lot of ripping
at your seams

And I know it probably hurts
when I stab this needle
repeatedly into your neck
I know.
I feel like my head is falling off too
but I don't have anyone
to help me sew it back on.

Hey.
I know 20 years is a long time
but you and me
we have a long way to go
and I'll keep stitching you up
if you keep hugging me at night
as I fall asleep.

today I interviewed julian koster

julian koster loves adventures
julian koster plays shows in houses
julian koster isn't famous
julian koster doesn't own an ipod
julian koster likes billie holid-ay
julian koster believes in magic

jordan gillespie was at this gas station once
jordan gillespie smiled at the cashier
jordan gillespie stole a lighter from that gas station
jordan gillespie only uses white ones
jordan gillespie is down to fuck
jordan gillespie believes in luck

in the hour of the rooster

the clock in the corner
struck with my mother's hands;
the hospital room was
the white
of antibacterial wipes

I slid out into the world
a mottled baby
umbilical cord wrapped around my neck
like a Christmas bow

white, the difference between
purity and sterility

I don't know who to blame
I wasn't born that way

I remember the first time I saw the literal early bird getting the literal worm.

It sat on our back lawn and violently stretched the creature out of the ground
ripping the worm from its safety
thrusting its head back wickedly
and diving down again.

I was horrified.

I found their trail in the morning
got down on my knees and scrubbed
later traps
watching them come in one way
and leave out the other

That sweet, heavy thought:
I would never see these ants again