Lateral

Ghost everyone who knows your name
if you really want a shot at taking
everything around you and no longer
letting it remain the same.

Visit stranger’s graves if you notice
no one else does and while reading over
their epitaph try and unpack
who they thought they were,
not the image put there after they were gone.

Remain seated through the whole course
of a mass and do not ask too many questions
of the basket men collecting all the checks.

No one ever pictures all the days
when the audience was empty
in the Roman Colosseum looking back.
Even Baseball games have trouble with
attendance sometimes leaving open seats.

Punch the table during the middle
of a poker game and watch the chips
suspend themselves between the felt
and the green lamplight up above them.

When you’ve pissed the world off just enough
to make it show you what is really happening
there is no going back to sitting at a desk
all day watching time all fall away
while everyone is laughing
at the commentary.