we're the most magnificent species in the known universe
though we have stated the tapeworm is pretty cool too

we can take bottles of whatever from anywhere and
slide them into secret pockets of our messenger bags

when sam 'short dawg' ODs on heroin atop his mom's
grave we leave candles with labels of saints or Christ

when spirituality is left hollow from drugs or money
or fucking we fuck or take drugs or spend money and

wait for a time when our watch again strikes the 1/5th
hour to kiss a chronically imploding sense of the 'self'

I'll lug the guts into the neighborhood--stray them in the
tired old asphalt along with all these crinkled ole receipts

it only rains up

here are the things Sparks says he likes
about the world from the monkey-bars:
Upside-down sky means if you grow too
tall you hit your head on the floor.
 It only rains up. The short guys always win.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sparks is short. he keeps his arms crossed like laces
when he hangs from the bars by his knees, his face red pizza,
he says, I heard girls keep food for later inside of their bras.
I kick the gravel.
I'm too tall for the monkey bars. I saw Sparks' older
sister's underwear once--she changed, unzipped her jeans,
didn't close the bathroom door the whole way, I didn't look away
not even when she saw me--but I won't tell him.
he says, I touched a girl's bra before. I say, Let's go to the river.
-----------------------------------------------------
the bottoms of rivers look like tea cups, mud swirl
mocha. my mother let me taste her coffee before and I
hated it. grown-ups only like things that taste bad. frogs
jump, skitter. a half-chewed bird flows downstream
in a dead way. the dark things in the woods would
eat us but Sparks won't let them. Come and get us,
he says. he waves a stick. Sparks always cries when he
scrapes his knees--he turns away his face, but I still see them,
the little tears collecting like stamps in the corners of his eyes.

i have perfected the pretend people
and their way of speaking
watching youtube videos
on faking a foreign accent
and practicing on the 9

do you see how i can be
just as obnoxious as the meth addicts
messily making out and groping each other
as i say in my new zealand accent
some people will do anything for love

Attention Ladies!

now available: one (1) caucasian male
weight 70 kilograms
gently used

• can follow simple instructions
• realistic responses to your touch