repetition

it seems the future
is a never ending stream
of coming attractions,
news bulletins,
hot showers, and restaurant menus
written in gibberish

i like it best
when the music i’m hearing
has that intangible element
of captured humanity,
sometimes you can hear it
in the atmospheric reverb
of the room, the singer
or guitarist adjusting position
on the creaky wooden stool
setup in the recording booth

and i go through days alone
often convinced the last song
i heard is the best song
ever written, like right this minute
it’s “The Downeaster Alexa”
by Billy Joel, and i don’t know why,
something about the breathy nature
of the accordion
accompanying such a romantic
view of life’s inherent struggle
for simple survival

isn’t that what i’m doing after all,
simply surviving,
like a trained rodent
chasing pheromones
from one eating station to the next,
and to the next and to the next,
from the domicile to the retailer
to the domicile to the retailer
ad infinitum, gathering small moments
of joy as mere distraction
until even distraction feels
like a distraction from itself