The song goes, where will I go? / I could fly home with my eyes closed.
The joke goes, There’s a cop who waits sunrise to sunset in a back road out in the country for speeders and zoom here he comes flying by at 80 miles an hour and on goes the lights and the sirens and the driver pulls over and the cop saunters to the driver and says, I Have Been Waiting For You All Day, and the driver says, I’m Sorry, Officer! I Got Here As Fast I Could.
My joke goes / I’m sorry / My sorry goes / I’m a joke / This set-up is hook, punchline, / and sinker / Look, I am sinking / I wash the dishes / at the sink / I see you washed in morning light / this morning I woke up heavier than ever / I mourn you / wait for me / open wound / spools of light wound around the / deadweight of this body / slowly a wake / widen my mouth / and it’s just a cut / I bleed out / there’s a hook between my lips / lines of fishing thread wrap / my torso / there’s a hook in my head /
My song goes / bury me in my Mercedes, goddamn / I mouth along in my hand me down Scion / handsome winking at streetlamps / blowing kisses to sewer grates / I’m feeling great / the rattle of the bass / loud like my heart’s too big beat / this slick body / unugly in the night rain / shimmering fish scale / drove me crazy got me speeding / tilted on tempo / but shifted off balance / I circle to oval to / wobble to wobble / like drops rippling on the surface of a pond / I go back where I’m from / I swallow a pretty lure / I want something sharp inside me / my guts get pulled out / mouth gaping / gasping for air / fish out of water / I’ve got a drinking / my head underwater but I ain’t in the shower and I ain’t getting baptized / the joke goes / I’ve got a drinking problem / I shower in the stuff! / ask a fish what water is / I stir my drink / I go shooting in a barrel / shots to the head / salmon swim back / to where they were born / to be dead / I’m diving off the deep end / It goes /
Sunrise to sunset
and I get there
as quick as I can.
A circle so small,
it’s just
a dot.
Alex Dang is an internationally performing poet, TEDx speaker, and slam poetry champion. Featured on HuffingtonPost, UpWorthy, and EverydayFeminism, his work has been viewed on YouTube over 2 million times. Dang has performed in over 50 cities, 30 states, 6 countries, and wants to know what your favorite food is.
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