hydrogen peroxide
i fell on the top of the escalator
i don't even know what happened
how it happened
it was stupid
and my knee was cut on that toothed metal
that the the escalator was made of
with each step like half of a jaw
with hundreds of jagged metal teeth
it was so stupid
that little cut, that little stupid cut
cut one way and then the other
about half-inch long each way
a good quarter-inch deep
pulled up like an arrow
the fat below my skin
was stupid-yellow
i stared at it stupidly, thinking
that the fat on the steaks we ate
was not stupid-yellow, but tasty-white
white, tasty fat
my fat was yellow. different.
i cringed and cried, i was with my dad
he left me then, i knew what he was going to do
he left me on the bench and i waited for him to come back
all of the people around me were stupid
and yellow and different
the Singapore city mall is a horrible place
to cut your knee on a food-court escalator
he came back with hydrogen peroxide
it hurt and foamed when he put it on
i screamed. i screamed stupidly.
so many years go by
and i am still somewhat stupid
we got drunk at a poet's house
pouring gin and miller-high life
into our champagne-flute gullets
making mimosas of stomach acid
i was covered in paint
by the time they showed up
and acting
stupid
we started talking about stupid things
like poetry and painting and capitalism
when i decided it was best summed up
physically
we sparred and wrestled
we locked and twisted
we fell and slid on the short lawn
steep, and covered with snow and ice
and i lost the match and limped
stupidly
to my car
the next night
i went home with you
having again fought
this time at a birthday party
and was now bleeding
stupidly
from my dirt-contaminated wound of a knee
and i was going to ignore it
and hope it would go away
heal up on it's own
without infections
without direction
without care
but you took me to the bathroom
your lips leaned towards me as you
pressed a warm cloth to my limbs
and said it might sting
and it did
it was a stupid sort of sting
but instead of screaming
i laughed
i don't even know what happened
how it happened
it was stupid
and my knee was cut on that toothed metal
that the the escalator was made of
with each step like half of a jaw
with hundreds of jagged metal teeth
it was so stupid
that little cut, that little stupid cut
cut one way and then the other
about half-inch long each way
a good quarter-inch deep
pulled up like an arrow
the fat below my skin
was stupid-yellow
i stared at it stupidly, thinking
that the fat on the steaks we ate
was not stupid-yellow, but tasty-white
white, tasty fat
my fat was yellow. different.
i cringed and cried, i was with my dad
he left me then, i knew what he was going to do
he left me on the bench and i waited for him to come back
all of the people around me were stupid
and yellow and different
the Singapore city mall is a horrible place
to cut your knee on a food-court escalator
he came back with hydrogen peroxide
it hurt and foamed when he put it on
i screamed. i screamed stupidly.
so many years go by
and i am still somewhat stupid
we got drunk at a poet's house
pouring gin and miller-high life
into our champagne-flute gullets
making mimosas of stomach acid
i was covered in paint
by the time they showed up
and acting
stupid
we started talking about stupid things
like poetry and painting and capitalism
when i decided it was best summed up
physically
we sparred and wrestled
we locked and twisted
we fell and slid on the short lawn
steep, and covered with snow and ice
and i lost the match and limped
stupidly
to my car
the next night
i went home with you
having again fought
this time at a birthday party
and was now bleeding
stupidly
from my dirt-contaminated wound of a knee
and i was going to ignore it
and hope it would go away
heal up on it's own
without infections
without direction
without care
but you took me to the bathroom
your lips leaned towards me as you
pressed a warm cloth to my limbs
and said it might sting
and it did
it was a stupid sort of sting
but instead of screaming
i laughed