another poem abt distance

Some people can’t
stand the city-
too many eyes
too many faces

They don’t understand
the thousands of acres
that separate
each of us

Distance is the reason
that ill intent
makes a good
fairy tale

No one wants to know
that our opposition to
one another
is part of
evolution

Whenever I try to see
my path in others
rather than vice versa
I get impressions

My cat likes
the warm spot
on the couch
that I leave
almost as much
as my lap

We think provocation
takes us elsewhere
when the grapes
might as well
be sour

Distance is where
our affections lie

There is always
another cheek
to turn

Passive-aggressive
cuts
only hurt
when you look
at them

Distance is our blueprint

Behind closed doors
when the lights are off
we close doors
& turn off lights

Distance is closer
than we think

In March of 2010
scientists at
the University of California
were able to vibrate
a tiny metal paddle
w/ electricity
until it was moving
& standing still
at the same time

Most of us
can barely count
the difference b/w
Entitled &
Considerably Entitled

Distance
is no secret

We are fashionably
aghast
watching predators
get caught
on MSNBC
while fashionably
amused
by the old man
trying to fuck
Peter Griffin’s
teenage son

Distance is this poem
weighing itself
while yet feasting

Modern hipsters
prefer the coxcomb
to Ginsburg’s halo

Distance is
now showing

We worry abt
those that we will
never know
but what they’re playing
on the big screen
is us

Distance is
a background hum

At the Mapco Express
the girl behind the counter
no longer cards me
when I buy beer
since the register says
“Please show ID”

She could at least
lip synch

Distance preaches
to the choir

Dostoyevsky
Camus
& countless others

I haven’t quit
my day job

But I could have it wrong

The pixels could be
holding hands
as they whisper
not-so-very-distant
nothings
in yr ear

The zeros
could be undergoing
some important
rite of passage
to become Ones

Failing to see
blue blood
under
brown skin
could mean that
we really are
colorblind

Distance could be
the most
that we can
manage

There could be
intimacy
in the words
that we speak
around
one another

Distance is staring
at a cell phone
while the big ugly world
is screaming
all around you

Lest you be
diagnosed as
autistic

Distance is a compromise

Remember when
you stopped playing
w/ toys?

Or when
you stopped saying
what you really
feel?

When you
stopped feeling
what you really feel?

Distance is seeing
Memphis
on television

Aquamarine
or turquoise
playing the role
of blue
while Karo syrup
glistens on
airbrushed
mahogany flesh
& mercy is had

Distance is laughing
when someone falls

We have all snickered
watching gravity
synthesize
Hegelian dialectic
b/w flailing arms
& hard pavement

Distance is more
than one

Candy bars come two
to a package
when one of them
is lying

Distance is the sum
total of the shadows
that we cast

In the East
more concise thought
allows tones to compete
w/in each syllable

Distance cannot be measured
b/w bark & bite
anymore
than it can be measured
b/w crisis & pretense
or minor inconvenience
& mass hysteria

Distance can only
be measured
in the city
where you can
always count
on too many eyes
& too many faces.