“After Everything Else Happened”
Sometime later the sky opened
things fell upon us
upon the streets and houses
upon the cars and movie theaters
upon the old women with canes
and their idiot husbands
sometime later the sky opened
things fell upon the bicycle riders
and acrobats
upon the prostitutes and police officers
upon the destitute and dying
and the beautiful girls with auburn hair
and the brave young men with flowers
things fell
crushing those objects you might imagine
they would crush
even dogs and children
not cats, of course,
for cats are wise and adept
at vanishing
but it was unspeakable
this crushing
so I can’t comment on what they were
these things that fell upon us
that crushed us
but sometime later the sky opened
it did
and things fell upon us
and things fell
and fell
and fell
and I was not sad
because I knew it was coming
and I am, after all, a man
and I do not give in to sorrow
I will miss you, though
beautiful one
I will miss you most of all
I will miss you like my own blood
amid this wasted splendor
“Of course”
Parents love their children
and hard work pays off
and the man who bags
your groceries never
tortured a lost hitchhiker
in his basement
and buried what was left in his wall
after making a stew of her parts
and the police officers
patrolling you neighborhood
never murder for sport
and no one you know
goes to bed hungry
or bereft of love
and your wife would never fuck another
And America is number one
and Jesus loves you
and voting matters
And the teams you worship are the best teams
and most likely worship you back,
and your church has the inside scoop,
and you, yourself,
are good
And prosperity is right around the corner
And your lost darlings still think of you,
and there was once a chance for joy,
and you had a day, a single day,
that was the best
and made all the other days worth living
And you will be remembered
in song and glory
though death
has forgotten your name