Dalton, Georgia

Kroger in Dalton, GA
7 AM getting Starbucks
elderly florists
put some flowers
in the bags under my eyes
it’s like a funeral
no hidden agendas
I like it when the world
tries to arrange
my insomnia

the ghosts of carpetbaggers
eat leftover sushi
talk about running for office
“...put these little fishies
in their place
into the belly of
this horrible machine...”
the afterlife has no oceans
no sushi when you’re dead
the gods are cruel

Mid-Ohio

The sign on the road reads
“Mid-Ohio”
it's raining so hard
Carly's like, “Remember
Pimp My Ride
they put an aquarium
in that guy's car”

I'm trying to drive
Xzibit
like Victor
Frankenstein

taking
the sorriest vehicles
on the road
turning them into
impressive new rides

natural born killers
never let shit slide

from corpse to skeleton
from flower to fruit
the smell of cheap perfume

we pull over
pick up a drifter
break into a pet store
in the middle of nowhere
steal every goldfish
then we get a big survival knife
go to the woods
we tell the drifter
“cut open our chests
put the goldfish in
pimp our rides”
he doesn't hesitate

eventually
the dream is over
it has stopped raining

you ever wonder
how windshield wipers feel
in places
where the weather is
almost always perfect?

Elegy

for Anthony Bourdain

A dream:

the ghost of
Anthony Bourdain

cannibalizing
my brain

somewhere
in the Financial District

he savors
the bitterness

wonders why I’m not
a popular delicacy