LISTEN

[Creed]
.gabriel duncan \

replaced with rivers
of tar and rubber
metal-steel wheels
vulcanized and airbagged
careening up and down hills
over blocks
and
the
occasional pedestrian

i should be content.
there's food,
and warmth.
i should be content.
there's life,
and passion.

as things go on;
as they always do.
i find more words,
than I had before.
always discovering new words,
closer to old meaning.
i'll be happy
if I express
before I end.

replaced with keys.
and dogma;
always yapping.
nipping at my ankles
every time I stray
too close
to the truth.

i should be content.
i'm 19,
gay, paiute, mexican, french
brown, straight-acting, thrill-seeking
sexually active
male.

who isn't: addicted
to meth, sugar
or alcohol.

who didn't: fall in line
and off himself
three hours after
the one before him.
didn't let;
the depressions take him yet.

who didn't: give in
and subject himself
to another predator
upon another victim

who doesn't have aids
or children
or brain damage
or other permanent
remnants of his
sexual preference
or masculine/feminine
relative value
between 1 and 7

who isn't: in jail
who didn't;
stick to the fly paper-
whatever that means.

they're just words.
but if one drop
of my soul-
not this moment
has stained this
blank graph paper
has permeated
your world views
and touched
the thing inside of you
that does not have words:
i can end.