On Empty
On Empty Copyright Š Jack Galmitz New World Books, 2016 New York, New York
On Empty
Jack Galmitz
Disport in the afternoon with the cherry blossoms with the school it is about you
Put on your tinfoil hat you're going out there's radio frequencies & people who read thoughts
Roll down the window feel the wind on your face the dog likes it, too it's not a mistake
From the air everything below is laid out in squares come, let us dare
Small bursts of green on an old tree the birth of a galaxy right on the street
the tree is wider than us 3 older than memory & how we dream
Her lips were red & full and barely parted spring was on us & we got started
The worker's boots have lost their shape water stains on wooden planks & earth tone paint
Walking my dog a woman from another world is walking hers, too thank you thank you
I saved that tree from a man with a machete how tall it's grown and how much it is its own
Gum wrappers, shreds of paper cigarette pack foil, faded tickets pasted on heavy duty paper & you're in your thicket
He lights the sun as he runs in the shallow water so long as he is young
How small the men beside the massive banks and their windowless walls shadows all
Pressed trousers and polished shoes make do with the tire ruts in the morning snow
I love to nap on bed or couch I'm quite close to my seven cats
Forty million sperm fight for one egg I feel like that where I live
I turned off the radio and said to my father, "I'm worried. I have no feelings" He said nothing
The train's horn blows travels the sky rests in invisible trees where mother and father lie
I'll give you my body and you'll give me yours we'll lie on leather cushions and take the grand tour
On the psychiatric ward my mother clutched me to her her nurse said she loved me so I was so embarrassed
I called her for three years in advance of the prom in the end she chose another boy
It came too lateboys and girls were the crazewhen I hit the ball it cleared the fence
Long ago walking in the summer grass I found a bluefish hook and stashed it in a shoebox
Opening day I didn't attend there are many more important things
When my girlfriend left I was a mess I couldn't take care of myself I couldn't take care of the pets
It's plain to me that I live in the past yet I can't escape where I was left as dead