sometimes i can tell

i know before i fall through that the floor’s rotten,

and i take the long way round and it’s hard but i make it okay,

and then sometimes the moldy patch isn’t actually mold,

just a shadow, or wood grain, or my active imagination,

and i took the long way and now i’m late to the party,

they’ll think so ill of me,

‘how paranoid’, they’ll say,

‘how odd she is,’

‘what a pitiful soul,’

and they’ll tut and they’ll pity me,

and not a one will care to hear about my troubles,

because that’s all i ever talk about, you see, they’re bored to death,

if you break your spine everyone will bring you flowers,

but it won’t be long til their sympathy’s tinged with annoyance,

and they pity you in the sense that they pity you and in the sense that you’re pitiful,

because nobody has time to deal with you, no, they have their own lives to live,

you’ll have to learn how to make do like everyone else,

like everyone who doesn’t have a pit under their floor,

otherwise what’s the point of you?

so sometimes when i can tell

i step on the mold anyway, i might be imagining it, i’ll take the risk

and sometimes i’m imagining it,

and sometimes i fall.

i wonder how long it’ll be til i break my spine.

Als ob

Mehr als die Welt habe ich dich geliebt;

mehr als die Sonne,

mehr als der Mond.

Du fehlst mir.

Du hast in meiner Brust eine Höhle gelassen.

Hatte es jemals Hoffnung gegeben?

Hatte es ein anderer Weg gegeben?

Alles passiert so wie es passieren muss:

als ob es passieren muss.

Prophets

And the prophets came to you

-Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah-

And they spoke their truth in the wind

-Jonah, Micah, Nahum-

And they wrote it in the clouds

-Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel-

And they sent it to your spam folder

-Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi-

And they burnt it into your grilled cheese sandwich

-Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa, Muhammad-

And finally,

John told you the truth.

But did you listen?

Did

you

listen?

Should have done

Causality is a funny thing

the way that every small decision

every step forward

back

to the side

can mean life or death

or worse.

Ze’s gone away

because of every step

that ze chose

and I chose

because I didn’t say

“Let’s go tomorrow instead”

or

“I think I’ll avoid the freeway”

or

“Why don’t you drive this time?”

All the stories tell us

the gift of prophecy is a curse

but I don’t believe in fate

only in choices

only in steps.

Icarus

I told you once

warned you that

you flew too high,

wax from your wings dripping on my face

that

the forbidden fruit

was out of your reach.

I told you once

that you would fall from heaven.

I told you so,

but I think you already knew.

Should have known

Should have known

that

their love was unraveling

that

soon it would be yanked from under his feet

when Marlow stopped smiling when he came home from work

when Marlow forgot his birthday

when Marlow spent more and more time away.

Perhaps

if he’d known

things would be different

if he’d brought a dozen red roses instead of just the one

if he’d done more to show his love

perhaps Marlow wouldn’t have taken up with a stranger

perhaps they’d still be a family

perhaps their family would even have grown

perhaps he wouldn’t

now

be alone.

Perhaps the woman in the wind

wouldn’t be whispering

now

in his ear

telling him all the things he did wrong

telling him all the things he could have done better.

Perhaps.