One Afternoon

(over tea)

and over text
sitting two feet away from each other

she says:
Why don’t you drink the rest of this?

i sez:
if u didn’t want it why did u make it?
if u don’t drink ur tea u can’t have any pudding

she says:
You mean, if you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding?

i sez:
no i meant what i piston thumbed u—exactly that

she says:
Why are we texting sitting across from each other? This is stupid.

i sez:
bcause im a stupid fool trying to meld into this oppressive ambient noise

she says:
Ambient like Eno?! This isn’t an airport it’s a busy Starbucks.

i sez:
no ambient like loureed metal machine music—forced contrived overwhelming i want to disappear into it

she says:
This is dull let’s go. Do you want this tea?

i sez:
do u want me to bus ur cup?
or do u want me to cup ur bust?

she says:
Goodbye!

(i wonder where she b now)

What I’m Reading:

“Or the way these poems found me
All of it, everywhere
I am pouring something out of me
With every step that I take”

— Dorothea Lasky / “Poems: Blood”