No Thanks

listen

            every day the world is making its meager

mea culpas for Easter peeps arranged on dollar store plates

            at dinner parties invisible fences the dogs run past

for bleach-stained laundry fresh from the laundromat

            fallen palm leaves whose barbs bloody your fingers

when you sweep them from the road someone somewhere

            is repenting listen it is every living creature’s right

to refuse the apology no thanks to the vendor

            offering his rhinestone watch before the truck

can tow his trailer from the driveway I’m good

            to the postwoman offering whiskey and who knows

where it could lead after misplacing another package yes

            god it is good to decline the world its small expressions

of remorse the landlord’s handshake as black mold erupts

            from the ceiling the gift basket and wax-armored cheese

after another job falls through the apology you once imagined

            from the boy you last remember as a shape

standing over you naked the shape of all intent

            as you have come to understand it a volition of dark

holy as any power you wrestle with and lose to can be

            holy your neck craning up intending you swear

to reject that single word its rain

            sorry