9.20.17
i wonder
how ineffectual
i can be
and still maintain
human relationships.
yesterday,
at one of those bright
terrors called supermarkets
a man stopped me
in the parking lot
and asked if i
could help him
lift heavy bags into
his car, his back was shot.
Nope is what i said.
Good luck is what i meant.
Nowhere is where i had to be.
but still
i hovered around his
car for ten minutes
watching him hoist these bags
into his sedan.
then one of the bags broke.
produce tumbled and rolled
and flipped and spun and
hurdled and splattered and
spilled in all directions.
he looked like he was
going to cry and i didn’t care
at all not one single bit.
believe me, i’m ashamed
because i feel no shame at all.
Written at 10:23 at night, in my office, in Agoura Hills CA, after consuming an ungodly and fankly unsafe amount of sushi.