king for a day

sometimes
i say the wrong things,
or the right things
to the wrong people
or the right things to the right people
but loud enough for the wrong people to hear
and that's when things get complicated.
i love her
but not in "that way"
and perhaps she understands
or knows that i'm just a fool
and takes no offense
in loose lips
but i could feel her eyes tapping my shoulder
that night at the bar
and i didn't look back
or try to remedy the situation
because that is not my role.
i hurt more people
by loving the wrong people.
it would be fun to play god for a day
and fix things.
but that's a lot of responsibility
to put on a jester's shoulders.

here, pull my finger...

Yeah? And what of it?

So?! I had an urge to hear Madonna's "Who's That Girl?" I don't know where it came from. One minute I'm listening to "Hello Hammerheads" by Caribou, next thing ya know I'm downloading this Madonna ditty off iTunes. Did I really need to spend $.99 to hear that song in it's entirety? Probably not. Will it ever make it into heavy rotation on my playlists? Definitely not. Do I feel like a sucker? Little bit. But I treat iTunes like a jukebox, where you often drunkenly pay for songs you thought were awesome until you actually deposit your money and hear them again and try to argue with yourself that it sounded different when you were younger, sometimes even convincing yourself that this must be a remix.

Quien es esa nina?
Seniorita, mas fina.

magic trick

pick a number between one and ten.
got it?
now write it down on a slip of paper.
fold it up.
real small, like you're passing a note in class.
that's good.
now pass it to me.
don't forget your number.
this is important.
now i'm going to unfold the paper.
do you still remember what you wrote?
good.
here, i've unfolded the paper.
i'm going to look at it now.

hmm.
that's not the number i was thinking of.

That Old Mix Tape Feeling

The past. What do we do with it? Do we box it up and put it in a far corner of the attic? Do we dwell on it and wish to relive it, rethinking our moves so that we may end up somewhere other than where we are now? Or do we forget it and move on? I've never been one to let go of things easily, and I've found myself running through my life's scenes quite often. Replaying them, studying, trying in vain to find their meaning.
A recent discussion with someone dear to me got me a tad reflective again. I used to make her mixes many years ago. Perhaps this is a lost mix-tape for a long-lost friend...

Reflections for the Summer

A Conversation

Two men stand in front of a loading dock smoking cigarettes.

“’Sposed to be in the nineties all weekend.”

“Jesus. We were wearing jackets two weeks ago.”

“Gonna be a miserable summer.”

“I’m sweatin’ all day. Got my air-conditioner on at home so I get back it’s just a blast of cold air.”

“Least you got air-conditioning. I've got a fan, but no windows. there's really no point. It just blows hot air around.”

A bird lands by them and starts pecking at the ground.

“There’s this fucking bird again.”

“Musta been something there earlier.”

“What are you trying to eat Bird? Nothing there now.”

“Heh.”

“Heh.”

“Oh check this out...”

“What is it?”

“At my building there was this pigeon got sick. He was just stumbling around for, like, days. He just kept bumping around. Sometimes he’d curl up and lay against the wall.”

“Where’s this?”

“My building. My apartment.”

“No. Where in the building?”

“Out front. The entrance area.”

“Oh.”

“So this pigeon is just always there for about a week. Then one day, I’m coming out and there’s this homeless guy out front. He’s EATING the pigeon.”

“What?!”

“No shit. He was just picking it apart in his hands and eating pieces of it.”

“That’s fucking sick. He didn’t even cook it?”

“With what? A lighter?”

“Man, if I ever get to the point where I’m eating dead animals off the street, just fucking kill me. I wouldn’t want to live. Where can you go from there? That’s pretty low.”

“Hey if you’re hungry, you’re gonna eat...”

“Nah, man, I’m jumping in the Hudson and I’m not planning on coming back up. That’s fucked up.”