Three Completely Unrelated Poems

From different years, in different styles, with no connection to one another whatsoever, except possibly a certain aloof and doleful tone

These Thoughts (2019)

Sometimes I have these thoughts and they make me say Jesus Christ this is groundbreaking I must write this down now! I can’t let this pass without explaining each aspect of it! And while I write it, an old lady watches me from the parking lot across the street. She won’t even turn her head away but I don’t question why. I’m sure she’s very well established in her wild goose community with grandchildren and their uncles all going about their days. Maybe I should come across and ask how she’s doing. She’s probably doing pretty well I guess I can answer that one for myself. No need to invade on her perfectly fine day. But if she knew I was writing about her, oh man would I be toast.

No Reason (2022)

There’s no reason to suspect
Another conversation 
On a water tower
Near the beach
(But not quite at the beach)
And cold, old coffee
Back at the house.

There’s no reason
I can think of
To be afraid
If it’ll all be forgotten soon enough anyways
And still
I’m afraid
Literally all the time.

There’s no shortage
Of people
Who would line up
For a free promotional Beyond Burger
On a Tuesday afternoon.

Regret (2023)

At dinner, all 4 of us agree about regret.
I have so many tiny pangs, some of my clearest memories are regrets.
If I’m anything like my dad (which, everyone knows, I am) the same pangs will stay with me for 20, 30 years.
But I will be able to wedge healthy distance between myself and them.

When is the world supposed to end? I’m trying to plan out my life.
Well, it all depends how many people quit eating fish.
But it’s looking like roughly 20, 30 more years.
At that point I will be on another planet.

Did you know they found water on an asteroid already?
Did you know they cover up black lines with airplane trails?
Did you know that isn’t true?
Did you know fuck you?

Later it’s “interruptions” and “the loudest voice in the room.”
I try to make it “rhetorical fallacies” but no one wants to go there with me.
Soon, they will get to “all the ways you ruined my life.”
At that point, I will be on another planet.

Is the world supposed to end during every conversation?
With a tiny pang, I get my last word in, edgewise, and am out the door, around the corner.
The same door, the same corner.
The same disagreements, the same last words, edgewise.

The same driveways I’ve always passed.
The same deer who once were babies. Or the babies of the same deer who once were babies. The lifespan of a deer is 6 years.
The lifespan of a pang of regret is 20, 30 years. 
The lifespan of a family argument is as long as it takes until the next one comes.

I come home, no one is mad. Or, at least, no one is yelling.
They didn’t see me come home. They didn’t see me come back around the corner and into the door. They were worried I would get hit by a car.
I don’t mention that in 20 years of walking the same streets I’ve never once been hit by a car. I don’t mention what I learned on wikipedia about Ad Hominem arguments.
I will be able to wedge healthy distance between myself and them.