Like,
If the earth is flat
Then how come I’m frowning?
If this is theatrical space
When can I leave?
Like, is the estrangement I feel Brechtian?
And to whomst is the fourth wall I’m addressing?

I came for the post credits
For the teaser
I came for lunch
I came in the circuit between us
Despite interference

This tokenism
This flavor adventure
When I’m offline I’m aspirin
I’m pain in the neck
My temple is head and shoulders
And the ceiling above that
In Decorator’s White

This conference room
In which the meeting starts
With my hair still wet
In which the pants are pleated
And the bush is back

In which nowhere
Gets scooped by warm rain
The paper plates
Pulped along sidewalks
Stolid cars angled
Against a rank sun
That’s spilling out onto
Lemon light of the train car

In which a hand is clutching
A cup reading “hungry ghost”
And chrome bars are framing out
A sequence of bodies
Clad in puffers
On to Penn Station

In which an Amtrak officer
Tells his colleague a story involving
The Cheesecake Factory
Then looks at me
And smiles

Now I tell you my dream
In which Spencer says:
Remember,
Chuck E Cheese was an orphan
And the E
Stands for Entertainment
In which I’m an orphan now too
At the arcade
In DDR induced birthday frenzy
And fistful of quarters

So my esteem gets healthy
I take mother-in-law to Chopt
At which point
My hands are empty
And my clothes are out

The dream is not felt
But seen
In 4K envelope
Only partially remembered

at what cost was lunch?
there was cotton definitely
but where was brunch?

The wagon never slows
I just wake up bluffed
And wet

2018