Draw me a universe,
one that I can
get lost in.

I have been
walking for so long
I lost my footing.

Bruised and broken,
but I’m not hurting.

Wonder what
the worth is
of worrying
About anything.

I got time
above water,
time below.

Time in the darkness,
the undertow.

Time in the longing,
time in the long gone.

Time in friendships had,
time in friendships spent

Like cents on the train
Remember Sense on the train?

Something happened
to him, hard
to explain.

Fell in a hole
like a cavity
with no novocaine.

Saw PeaceThruPain,
wondered how he’s been.

I guess I am
outside the theater
with no tickets again.

Got my silver digits
in sixes and wonder
if this is more
of the same again.

Want to get in
to say hello,
but there’s my friend Be,n.

He’s taking tickets
and won’t let me in.

Seems everything I do,
every time I do it,
is a bullet point
for another movement
that keeps changing.

Inertia got me going,
stops and turns
my trajectory
to be a better me.

Try to autocorrect me,
but the flow is free.

So I sit with
my poetry
and die with dignity.

Something has to move,
like the old
transitional phrase.

The days are long
and cold, and frozen
dialed up and hazy.

Wish this inertia
would save me,
move me to
the existing city.

Wish i was something
other than me,
but words are spells.

Can’t put repeat,
defeat, without
complete.

And what finds me
Will find you.

Maybe in the system
that medicates,
mutilates
And bandaids
with side effects.

 

Jason Wright is the editor and founder of Oddball Magazine. His column appears weekly. His third book, Train of Thought 2: Almost Home is available now at the Oddball Book Store.