Tanka Girl

because you are smart
you think they think you are dumb
forget what they think
squeamishness serves the weak ones
there's no valor in squeamish

she's a vampire
she has no skills or a clue
old enough to know
but the blood damaged her brain
now she sits and drinks coffee

no one comes to read
which, for this author, is good
because i can skip
instead stare out the window
at the crossing power lines

some days I am rash
like a grumpy household pet
that never gets out
gives you disdainful glances
and you know there's no repair

fifty five emails
over two hundred folders
a system of life
for those who fear the living
and interface through a screen

each of us decends
from that ancient átomos
primitive adam
with mass in the nucleus
surrounded by social laws

they say that it's true
there's prozac in the water
more serotonin
pisses through city filters
and fish are soaked with prozac

this cat keeps walking
pushing into my keyboard
purring like she knows
as if she aims to repair
this human disconnection

something about rice
my friend Davey can't cook it
he burns the bottom
then the pan always has this
shaded pattern of burnt rice

they say take your life
seriously, seize the day,
you only live once
but I say make life a joke
so that you and yours may laugh

two forty year olds
old buddies from years gone by
sit in the kitchen
two computers side-by-side
sharing funny videos

the test is over
close your composition book
put down the pencil
learning only goes so far
life can be lived without books