Cheating death day

Fidgety not knowing to sit or stand
to smoke or drink
to laugh or grimace.
Sweat on my nose like salty dewdrops
nervous about the future
about the present
waiting for the sun to come up
maybe to lend some legitimacy as to why I'm awake.

I cheated you.
You, the tumor that tried to take me before I breathed in the dusty air.
You, the tow truck that blindsided my mom's car.
You, the car that almost hit me while I was riding a bike too big for me.
You, the chemical that surged through my veins while I was getting teeth removed.
You, the boys who spat on me and roughed me up.
You, the men who ripped my heart out and made me want to die.
You, the bacteria that resisted medication.
You, the virus that will never stop killing me.
You, all you cigarettes.
You, yes you, who taught me what pain really was.
I cheated you all, because I'm still standing.
With bells on.
And I know you've got more to throw at me
but I don't give a shit.
Cuz when the dust settles I'll have a toothy grin to show for what I've been through.

Happy birthday
Cheating death day
Drink and forget day
Smoke and remember day
I've got more to come.
From saccharine sweet to lemon sour.
From banana peel bitter to grit and blood.
Wholesome wine and grain
Crumbs of great and terrible in a mediocre porridge.
I'm ready for more than a taste.

Thinned Air

Ooh-ma something is picking up.
Never in all of my everydays has my step bounced as it does right now and I ain’t gonna let it stop. Last year this time something white-noisy had my dial jammed up, all stuck, cellular phantoms ping-ponging my brain waves, internet jukeboxing my eardrums from outer space to pocket-piece machines custom fit to every hole in my head.
Ooh-ma today I am hanging up on the TV towers and phone wires’ tranquilizing lullabies, disconnecting the line, stepping my bounce to the la-la-la-laing drugging my mind…
…give me some more…
Ooh-ma something picked me up, something whistled through the smiling teeth of the shoe-shiners, hummed from the back of the bus to the vagrants at the stops, la-la-la-laing hooch-drunk toothless gums to a new kind of placated numbness…
Zoom zoom zoom zoom!
Starving Former-Retiree Sweating Outside of Plasma-Donation Center: “Hey what’s that tune you’re singing?”
“No matter the name just boom boom boom boom it yourself. Give it a try!”
Zing zing zing zing worries are fading away, spirits lifting like trapped helium, shout it out now everybody with a body ooh-ma that thing and sing along…

Drooling Man with Infected Fillings Collecting Aluminum Cans in a Shopping Cart: “Last year this time, I had a Cadillac…”

Three Hundred Pound Diabetic Single Mother of Four: “Last year this time, I had some money…”

Forgettable Foreign Man of Unknown Nationality Working Eighty Hours This Week at Two Fast Food Restaurants for Minimum Wage: “Last year this time, I was in the door…”

Aging Hipster Chain Smoking in Salvation Army Suit and $100 Ironic Throwback Fedora: “Give me some more!”

One Armed Man in Rags Bumming Change for a Coffee: “Last year this time, I had a Cadillac...”

Emaciated Methamphetamine Addict of Indistinguishable Sex: “Last year this time, I had some money…”

Unbelievably Exhausted Former Prostitute Pulling Ancient Fag Ends from an Ashtray: “Last year this time, I was in the door…”

Now Everybody: “Zoom boom zing la-la la-la la la-la-la!”

No need to question the origins of the tune it’s like you wrote it yourself la-la la-la la la-la-la Don’t worry you about their Cadillacs and money and the home of your honey they’re all just singing like la-la la-la la la-la-la We’ll handle those suspicious satellites and ethereal electric screaming just keep your ears peeled for la-la la-la la la-la-la All the dejected masses of the Earth zooming booming zinging into fucking stupid oblivion la-la la-la la la-la-la.