I’ve lost jobs for speaking up. So when I don’t like what I hear I shut my mouth to keep my life easy. If Dad taught me anything it was do as little as possible. I didn’t know any better. But the older I get, the more I crave the excitement he didn’t. We’re not as similar as I thought.
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A man with hair grey like mine hobbles up on two canes. Waiting for the bus he tries to light a cig. As-tu un feu he asks when his doesn’t work. Our hands touch as I pass him mine. His skin is smooth like he’s never been exposed to work or weather, or entirely too much fire. I shudder when I look in his eyes.
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A hooker sleeps in a flower box out front the pizza parlour. Both hands clasped under her head she looks cozy, like a child taking a nap. But I see no innocence in the man who wakes her. They talk while she rubs her eyes. He doesn’t help her stand. I watch them walk away. I hope she fucking robs him.
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At a small round table in a bistrôt I recall a quote.‘There are two great tragedies of life. The first is not getting what you want. The second is getting it.’ I begged for time to write. Now I miss someone sitting here with me. The waitress brings my turkey sandwich. I appreciate everything thing I have, and lost.
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She says I quit and I shrink. But I wish her the best. I’ll see you again. Two weeks notice. I grin at her prediction though I’m not as certain. Our schedules rarely collide. I lean close when I say if I do I’ll consider myself lucky. Her smile makes me weak. She glows as I walk out the door. The quarter looks less bright now.
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Standing stock stil in the living room I listen. The years have trained me to place sounds and scents. I wait for scuffling and scratching on the floor. I strain to hear whispers in the corridor. I sniff the air for tobacco. There’s nothing. I let out the breathe I was holding. Today I start with ease.
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With a dull squeegee I push ink through a screen. My hands are stiff. But physical labour is good for the soul and I lose my body in repetition. I escape to my mind where I’m already in my old wooden office chair. My back is hunched. The keys are firing. In this way my labour is fulfilling. I’m free.
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I lie in bed warm from sleep. I should get up to start the ritual that puts me in front of the computer. But I hesitate. It’s dark out. And on the other side of this duvet the heat is low. There’s ice on the windows. I make my life a challenge. Can I survive my self-made squalor? I kick the blankets off.
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A handsome man orders slowly. Normally this would have me groaning and rolling my eyes behind his back. But today the cold got into my ribs and now it howls from within me. So every second he wastes of the barista’s time, subjecting her to his whims, is warmth returning. Blather on you beautiful fool.
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I sit with my back to the rest of the patrons. A waitress brings my coffee. She wrings her hands confirming I take it black. I slowly say of course to calm her. Snow falls outside the thin glass window. I’m alone though it’s romantic. The server returns with a sandwich. I eat with the grace of a pig.
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Coming out of the subway I pull cigarettes from my pocket. On the ride here I was reading, got lost in the words, now I need to see people. A voice cries sir as I scroll for fire. A crackhead waves. She asks for a cig, and I tell her you got it. Appreciate it mister, she nods. I don’t disbelieve her.
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At a small bar I sit beside an attractive woman, but I’m more interested in what she’s saying. She leans in close; her voice is soft and measured. I’m lost in her eyes when ours lock. Her boyfriend’s sitting right beside her, though to us, when she rests her hand on my arm, he’s nothing but a ghost.
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14th Street is less lively than I’m used to, nearly dead. A few tourists make the most of a holiday they paid for or put on credit. I have to piss, and this isn’t the place to consider it. But I take advantage of the tranquility; I unbutton my fly on a shuttered business. Hot steam rises into the air.
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The closer I get to Times Square the thicker the horde becomes. It reminds me of every fair, carnival and small town street festival I’ve ever seen. The only difference here is the sheer amount of people flooding the street; all of them looking for memories. A six-storey screen bathes us in red light
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The gym-bro across the aisle loses his temper when the seat won’t recline. I stifle my laughter thinking full gorilla mode. A moment later, when he’s lightly grazed by the backpack of what I take for a limp-wristed playwright, he mutters I’ll fucking kill you with so much hate I shudder. He sits beside his twelve-year-old son.
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I type until the caffeine makes it impossible to sit still, and I begin to feel lightheaded. I know I need to eat but can’t be bothered to help myself. The amount of effort it takes to sustain oneself is often burdensome. I’m fit to starve for the ease with which it’d come. It’s modern, sedentary, and terribly chic.
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I smoke a cig on the stoop of a storefront, plywood’s covered the entrance for two winters, pigeon shit-stains under my feet. My bag hangs on a makeshift handle to save my back the strain. When the bus rolls up I’m the first to get on. I fall into a seat and it’s all giving in from this moment on. The road is a river and I’m floating along.
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Leaning against the café I smoke a cig, it tastes like shit and I wash it down with hot espresso. Smiling couples pass in winter coats open to the sun. They remind me of easy afternoons, a love lost. Two women in black clothes that move with the breeze exit and roll their eyes as they see me. I hang my head, I’ll never be good enough.
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Door locked behind me because I can’t trust the neighbours I stand out front of the building. All the snow still rests on top of telephone lines, branches and street signs. It looks like a holiday card, a fake village theme park, the set of a movie. I light a cigarette. When I exhale I can’t tell what’s breath or smoke, if this is real or not.
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On the way home I cut through a hole in a chain link fence, climb a mountain of snow on the edge of a parking lot. At the top a young boy eyes me cautiously, snow shovel in his hand held like he’s waiting for a pitch. Behind the grocery store a rat disappears in a drift. I hope it finds some place warm.
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Yesterday’s puddles are patches of ice this morning. Wind finds it way down my collar, tightens the skin across my chest. I hate it but crave it. Geese pick at the grass and I holler for them to start flying south. They look at me the same way she did in the end, like everything I ever did was wrong.
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Red light gives the living room an aura I like to wake into. Jeans in a pile on the floor, I clutch them and rush down the stairs. The only reason I afford this place is I’ve been here so long. This city was a haven for artists. Soon we’re all going to starve. Oh well, it’s good for my work, how about yours?
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Spilled holiday candy on the sidewalk and I hear last night’s grief, the laughter of friends. I’m reminded of when I could hold my alcohol, went out every weekend, had a bar I called my own. Now I spend my time with books and people in other cities connected by words on a screen. Is that all we are?
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At the dep there’s fifteen youths wearing leather jackets, hair glued in spikes and tattoos on their faces. In line to buy beer they growl at one another. The clerk looks terrified. I pluck a bottle of Perrier from a cooler and stand behind two girls with bright coloured hair, strong body odour. I remember my youth, young love, I smirk.
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I pass the day smoking and reading in bed. As the sun sets I give into hunger. I pour blood down the drain, mixed with tap water it brightens before swirling away. I fry ground veal and onions. I eat it with bread and cheese hunched over a table I built for two. At least there aren’t many dishes any longer.
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I rush along rue Notre-Dame, it’s still, the only people out are homeless, joggers and employees heading to open the cafés and bistros. In the park dog owners breath can be seen from a distance, their beasts run in fallen leaves orange and red as I shiver. Hands in my pockets I stop for a coffee. It helps.
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Under a streetlight I smoke a cigarette. And as people pass so close I feel so far away. Nights like tonight are when I notice myself slipping. I’ve fallen over the edge of the boat and there’s nothing to grip on to, my arms flail, no one hears me scream above the sea. I smile at a woman; she looks away.
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I lose myself in the work. Images repeated until they blur. All I see are imperfections, lint in the design, pinholes in the screen leaving ink where it shouldn’t, giving rise to client complaints. I learned a long time ago the best way to be left to your thoughts is to be good at what you do. So I am.
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Most of the shops are closed. A fire truck passes lights on no siren. Groups of people stumble by laughing, it’s Friday night and they got somewhere to be; I don’t. So I stop in a doorway to smoke a cigarette. On the way home I take photos. Bums sleep on picnic tables in Parc Sir George-Étienne-Cartier.
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It’s been months since the cat got in. A stray. It taunts me. I heard it last night coming home, I put my key in the lock, scurrying on the other side. Like a cockroach it was gone when I turned on the lights, it abhors them. I’ll destroy the beast one of these days. If it ever comes out of the shadows.
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In the dep across from the metro I pour a coffee. C’est tout the clerk asks; I point at some cookies on the counter. Un biscuit…le chocolat. With tongs he places one in a white paper sleeve. I give him four dollars and get one twenty-five in return. I drop the bag in the trash, another falls on the floor. The universe is equal.
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On rue Sainte-Catherine I smoke. An old bum comes limping up. You got any change…I’m trying to get some food. I say no while fingering two dollars in my pocket. I like your jacket…army surplus he asks while touching my shoulder. Of course. He holds up his fist, we bump knuckles. I miss him when he walks away.
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Peaceful morning until the woman who’s been living in the stairwell starts yelling. The walls and the echo distort her voice. I can’t make out a word. It doesn’t sound good, like she woke up on the wrong side of the cardboard. A dog starts barking. So does its owner. It’s hard to ignore, I’m doing alright.
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The old bum snores under the stairs, turns over on her cardboard bed as the door slams. She’s seen better days and this a society where no one cares. Grandmothers rot on the streets. Others eat fillet mignon. I hold my breath against the stench of piss. In my apartment I pour the coffee, I roll the joint, I get to work, I forget.
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I’d like to give up my comforts. Rely on as little as possible. That’s what being on the road has taught me, I need less than I have. As long as there’s coffee, cigarettes, headphones, a place to sit and write, then I’ve got it all. I lamented my return, but location isn’t important, and life is good no matter where I am.
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When I wake the lights are on. The bus is pulling off the highway. A rest stop in the middle of nowhere, same as in Delaware a couple days ago. I smoke a cigarette by the door. I use the free wifi to message her even though I know she’s asleep. I think about her kiss outside of Dekalb St. I’ll remember that when I’m alone.
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Sitting on my backpack I smoke a joint. A video screen lights up my face with images of the filthy rich. The glaze of alcohol blurs the eyes of those that pass. Heavily armed cops block off a street though a sign on a post reads this is a gun free zone. I exhale a cloud of smoke. My bus is delayed by an hour.
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I go in the smoke shop. She needs things from CVS. I check my phone, respond to messages while I wait. I stand on the corner staring out into the intersection of five streets. I could sprint like a gazelle when the next bus comes. Tears cloud my eyes. An NYPD officer stares at me, she chews her gum like a horse.
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At least it’s easy to type. The circumstances are to blame. A different city. I’m reeling with exhaustion. I’m a mess and I feel like a fool. But I take a step back to remind myself these are the juicy days of life, times I’ll remember better than those that were easy. When it’s tough as leather, all I can do is chew.
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I stop on a meridian I remember because of a kiss. A middle-aged man hobbles up from the subway. He asks for a smoke, I say I don’t have any. He sits down and starts yabbering. I give him the end of my joint. He puffs out his cheeks and says good shit. I wish him an easy night. I walk slow feeling lost.
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The day is a bore until the old thief comes by, tells stories. He blathers on about a family that lost it all. I don’t have a clue. But I nod along like I did with my old man, he spoke of people in the village, his past. I never cared about the subject. I was happy he chose me to listen, same as I am now.
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In the middle of the street I fart, a loud squealer. I light a cigarette, take a drag. Another long, hard day. The shirts never stop and they are my master. Laughing I become aware of where I am, and sitting in their window looking good is the neighbour downstairs. No need to wonder if they heard, their face says it all.
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A pair of rats scurry toward me, change direction, head for the trash. I smoke a joint. Two women drink coffee and chat at a table. I watch the old bum with an eyepatch piss against a wall as lovers go by on dates. The palm reader’s light flashes in her window. I wonder if she’s taking clients this late.
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Bad day. I rotate between choking back tears and wanting to go to sleep forever. Miguel uses me to practice his english. I look away as he asks basic questions. Tears burn my eyes as I answer, but I want to help, he’s a long way from home, and I’d like him to feel at ease. Yeah man…I fucking love rock and roll.
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Turning my key in the lock I sigh. Long week pushing ink and doing as I’m told. When I walk in the door I’m ready to shut the blinds and pull the blankets over my head. But that’s the easy way out. Instead I shower and dress and put on cologne for no reason, I smoke a cigarette. The end is here. I have the time to write. I exhale.
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I wake up to a cold apartment but I don’t mind. It’s good for me. It keeps me young, fresh. So instead of getting out of bed I lie there sucking in cool air. I throw off the blankets and revel in the way it tightens my skin, I feel alive, but something tickles the back of my throat, a voice whispers in my ear. I don’t know what I’m living for.
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My lineage is long. I’m every labourer who ever toiled. All I’m missing is a thermos of coffee, my lunchbox packed with last night’s dinner. Dad always had a feast. His wife said he needed a big meal working in the factory. He came home bragging he didn’t do a thing. My body aches when I walk in the door.
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A timepiece in every pocket. Enslavement and we pay for the luxury. A theory no one wants to listen to. I should give up on society, find a clandestine operation, join its ranks. Develop an even bigger grudge. Take it out on companies, the government, the rich. This is the paragraph they’ll read at my trial.
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Music booms from a new bar. The restaurant next door has a full patio. Across the street an empty théâtre boasts an à louer sign. This borough has changed since I moved here, so has my life. I look back smiling to when these streets were empty, and something sweet was turning sour. Flowers die; others bloom.
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Electricity and the phone and the internet and the god damned rent too. It all comes crashing at once. I think I’m getting ahead and the vultures swoop, scavenge the corpse of my wallet and leave me with less than I’m due, all for the luxury of getting by in the world. The ‘American Dream’ is bondage with a smile.
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Plants grow from cracks in the sidewalk, the foundation. I’m convinced it’s the flora that smells of piss as I ask the sky how long until the place is condemned, torn down for condos? More fake millionaires, the borough already teems with them. It’s hard to get a place to sit in the park. Where will I go?
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He rambles about money as I prepare a coffee. You look like you got a license, a miserable law abiding Swede, I borrowed a car, all you gotta do is drive. I shake my head, he paces. He’s certain cops don’t see me. He’s right, they look right though. In an instant I could change my life, but I don’t, not today.
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I take a hot shower, towel off, get dressed in last night’s clothes. Same motions as yesterday, tomorrow as well. I remove a cigarette from the pack on the table, hold it gently. Outside the city is as quiet as my sister’s farm. I sit on the curb, relax, not another chance until tonight. I exhale. I go inside and write.
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In an alley I drink an espresso, I smoke a cigarette, I watch a group people in country western gear. A literal brute with the arms of his plaid shirt ripped off, muscles showing. These meatheads could go violent in a second, and anyone who looks different is bound to be stomped into the pavement. I move into the shadows.
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I eat dinner. I go for a walk as a breeze cools down the city. A perfect night. Better spent around a campfire with old friends. Laughter and beer and talk of old times, new times, what we thought would happen, what actually did. Hard to believe I ever wrote a word. Tonight I watch my borough from a stoop.
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Waiting for my train he sits down close, then inches closer. Hand nearly on my shoulder he humble brags into his phone, something wrong with his breathing he whinnies. I get the vibe he’s at the station looking for men and it’s up to me to make a move. I gather my things, I fall asleep on my way out of town.
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We’re short a dollar he says and her disappointment is epic. I count what I have and give all I don’t need. The look on her dried-apple doll face reminds of old junkie Carlos, hot dogs and fries were enough to change his life for the better, we should all be so lucky. I like when the cookie is heated she tells me, soft and chewy. Me too.
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A small street lined with cottages even smaller. Sand dusts the faded concrete in front of the house same as it did back then. I take a photo embedded with memories. The times weren’t what they call high, but I smile. An easy walk to the beach, I’d stare across the lake and know it wasn’t forever, I wasn’t trapped, I could see the future.
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The day rolls by like clouds in the sky. Sitting on the deck I watch small waves sparkle in the distance; I’m mesmerized. Swallows whip through the air, Blue Herons call from the reeds, a Kingfisher scans the canal for lunch. I breathe fresh air thinking of the life I’ll go back to. Cars and yelling and dog shit covering the streets, I miss it.
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A hooker strolls through the intersection like cars aren’t honking. Her shoulders so far back I think of sandy beaches, a roaring fire, a limbo stick; she moves like a zombie. Eyelids flutter as she lies down in front of a pizza parlour, cigarette between her lips. There, there…sleep tight little angel, I wish I could make it better.
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I held a grudge, gave him a hard time for not being the father I wanted, but I was never a very good son. I should’ve tried harder, burrowed my way into his life. Instead I let his wife push me away. Now I’m in a city where I don’t know a soul and it’s too late to go back. I run for the bus, it pulls off without me.
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Along rue Notre-Dame I walk slow, no rush. A homeless woman with blue hair stomps through the park barking like a dog, princess printed on her shirt. In a greek restaurant I order food. The waiter says I sound like un vrai français. Get the fuck out of here I laugh. It’s Saturday night, the whole city smiles.
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Smoking cigarettes on the loading dock we decide to stay in, rent an old movie. Fireworks over downtown and I think the city is on fire. In my apartment we sit on the couch until Charlton Heston yells it’s made of people. I wait while she gets ready for bed, last night in town. I fall asleep knowing tomorrow I’ll do it alone.
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She comes out of the portapotty hunched. The last time I saw her she was stomping through the park with her face dyed blue like a demon from a Fulci film. Can I look in your sunglasses…fix my hair she asks with a voice that sounds like cigarettes. I lean forward. She straightens her bangs. Perfect she says before walking away. I agree.
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At the café I order an espresso. I light a cigarette across the street. Sitting on a ledge in the sun I watch people come and go, I listen to conversations I’m not a part of, I smile. If I wasn’t so busy I could rest here a while, I could become a rock, a tree, a pile of ash. Nothing would please me more.
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Lights on in the apartment downstairs I avert my eyes. He doesn’t seem like the type to take kindly to strangers peeping in his windows, not many are. I light my cig. The curb I normally sit on is smeared with what looks like canine diarrhea. I’m sure it’s intentional, a warning. The neighbours are conspiring against me.
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On the way home I take photos. If I had another joint I wouldn’t return at all. I’d find a nice place to sit, watch people dolled up for the weekend. It’s what they all long for, and have to make the most of it, or live their lives in regret. I walk back to my apartment. I remove my clothes in silence.
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Printing a cheery design depresses me. It might’ve been better five years ago, when I fell down the stairs, if I’d never gotten up. I could’ve avoided the things that happened, all the people I’ve lost, the feeling of failure that greets me like a lover every morning. I push it away like one you’ve had too long.
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Listening to music I enjoy a breeze created by the fan. My life is empty of a lot things since she left, it made a hole in me I didn’t know would open up. But I look at life with different eyes now. So on a hot, sticky morning like today, I’m thankful instead of oblivious to small comforts. I wish for nothing more than what I have.
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At the end of the day I’m giddy. I take my pay running out the door. I ride against the wind but it doesn’t slow me down, I pedal faster, harder. I think of my apartment, the streets, strangers on patios and in parks with smiles on their faces as night falls on all of us. It’s been a long time, but I’m hungry to live.
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Facing the fountain I smoke a cig, a joint, I read, I watch. I’m the only one of my kind. People my age don’t visit parks alone, we have families, friends, we’re surrounded with love. Or we do the honorable thing, we rot in dark apartments staying up to date on all that streams. What’s wrong with me, where did I go right?
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An Inuit man begs at the bottom of the escalator, I toss him my change. The line to buy tickets from the machine is longer than I want to wait. No one in the booth I step over the turnstile. I’m owed a free ride from time to time. It’s in the contract. You bleed me I bleed you. Eight minutes until the next train.
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In Carré Saint-Louis I use a toilet. Holding my breathe I read the anti-government slogans covering the walls. Walking along une rue piéton I smoke a joint. Passing a terrace a man says I stumbled into a guy with his pants around his ankles, he was furiously masturbating. Every single day is a blessing.
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I write with laughter on my lips. It’s easy to say you’re tired, hard to fuck up a nice life for sitting in front of a keyboard. But some things are impossible to ignore. I don’t know if people are on earth for a reason, seems arrogant. But if I’m in god’s image being myself is doing his work. Talk about hubris.
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Across from the subway platform she leads me through a graffiti covered door. Up a winding staircase. Metal floor. It smells of Mexican cooking. South American music booms, a chorus of birds chirp down the hall. In a fourth floor apartment I drop my bag on the ground. I take her in my arms. It’s good to be back.
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Two black cops hassle a drunk white lady. Tables have turned I say and the African man I’m helping load boxes into his truck asks me to explain. I mutter words like retribution, payback. I’m not trying to be a dick I plead. Smiling he says don’t worry, you can’t help it, you were born that way. We laugh.
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I stop in the café. Find a bench in the park. I smoke a cig, the tail end of a joint. I stare at the fountain talking to myself. A woman and I make accidental eye contact, we smile. Her shorts so short I see most of her ass as she walks away. I remove a book from bag, get lost in the words. Life is good.
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As I’m about to order I check my pockets. Muttering what a retard I tell the barista I forgot my money. I turn around and hear him say hey hey hey…come back…what’ll you have? I ask if he won’t get in trouble, vow to pay next time. He smiles when he says don’t worry. It’s nice to know not everyone’s rotten.