Other Things, If Not More Urgent Things

How to get close without going over.

How to feign lust for whatever’s on offer.

How the largest possible quantity

of anything is a lifetime. A lifetime

of oat bran. A lifetime of timing belts.

A lifetime of saying, sure, why not,

i’m only on earth x number

of years, and not knowing what

to make x. Sometimes I pick a number

I’ve already passed. I remember

the gambler’s credo — when you only

have fifty bucks left in this world,

you’d better get rid of it fast; the last

thing you want is money around,

reminding you every day of the money

you lost. The recommended

retirement plan is arabesque, then leap

and smash on the seawall. We made

a promise not to catch each other.