Two Poems

 

Quantity Guy

I'm really only interested in time on this earth.
Alive, if you have it. Tap water is fine too.

I like the laminar stillness as it pours.
I like to watch it fold over the lip of the cup

and peel down the sides onto the table.
That I should stop this feeling. This is wrong.

This is what it takes to feel rich. When you have money
you have to collect something else.

I'm really only interested in time on this earth.
Tap water is fine too. Anything from the source.

Anything non-renewable. A poem about time.
A poem about birds. The tap just runs and runs.

I could watch it all day. I have. Picture: my blunted affect
as the water slips between tap and drain. It exists

for only this moment. Watch my face sprouting
a manic, time-lapse grin. Watch days pass

in seconds. If you play a strobe light against it,
you can watch the final drips move backward.

That momentary de-aging effect music festivals have.
You can play your whole life against a strobe light.

I'm really only interested in time on this earth.
Tap water. Plentiful food. Cakes for milestone birthdays.

Poems about time. Poems about birds. Lumber. Plastics.
Sleep hygiene. Self-diagnosis. Milestone birddays.

Death from exposure. Extinction. Fortified cereals. God.
Systematic desensitization. Time on this earth. Alive.

If you have it,
a tickle on the back of my neck

when my hand breaks the flow.
A moment without future.

An integer of time.

Water from the tap.

 

Get It Together

If you feel overwhelmed and you close your eyes
and you count to ten nobody will ever know

that you counted to ten. If you close your eyes
and you don't count to ten nobody will know that either.

One time I counted to a billion and I've been fine
ever since. My nightmares are cured and my stomach

is a dog. I drink out of puddles and eat shit and if
I get hurt I basically forget about it right away

and go back to loving you. If you feel overwhelmed
I love you even more. I love you even more

when you close your eyes and lean in and I wonder
if you are counting to ten or maybe you are counting

to a different number altogether. I am here. I love you.
I have no idea what is happening basically ever.