a friend of mine died the other day
his wife was there too
the last thing he said to me was
“this is it”
he and I grew up together
but he aged faster than me
we worked horrible jobs together
but he worked more
neither of us joined the war
neither of us wanted to
we both wasted a decade going nowhere
while we both had dreams of going anywhere
we dated the same kind of women
we both fucked the same kind of whores
the law never did either of us any favors
and favors were something that neither of us gave anyone
I was there when he made it big
he didn’t notice what I had done
I don’t think he got soft
but I know that he just got old
for every year I aged
he seemed to age ten
the sickness snuck up on him
and then he said, “this is it.”
This poem is from my first ever chapbook, All My Friends Are Dead. This went out of print a few years ago. Now you can get All My Friends Are Dead and 5 other of my out of print chapbooks in one big ass book, FINGERING THE MUNDANE!
Get your copy of FINGERING THE MUNDANE my early poems. It’s a collection of 6 out of print chapbooks. 250 pages of poetry!