Sometimes,
Brian Bates
I’m an insomniac,
and talk too fast.
Sometimes, elephants have been known to stay standing after dying.
Sometimes, I let the shower run out of hot water.
I revise yesterdays. Sometimes, language should be sensual
and the internet shouldn’t work.
Sometimes I miss birthdays.
And the delete key.
When the adults were at the dinner table, I’d throw open all the cupboards
to find dessert.
Sometimes I wear a hat to hide my widow’s peak.
I’m claustrophobic in silence.
Sometimes you don’t love me after sex.
Sometimes, I wish I hadn’t voted for George W. Bush
on a pull-out magazine ballot for second graders.
This whole Iraq thing
might be my fault.
Brian Bates was once in another country and saw the northern lights while standing in a dumpster, holding expired pasta, at 3:00am. He thinks that's pretty alright.