Relentless Soliloquy

The people on the bus mean nothing to me now

Their cares are like mine. Let them ride on

I had the wish you are supposed to wish.

I had the prayer for the blind dead god.

Cash in my hand and a fish in my mouth,

I sailed over the broken ground.

What, did you see the treasure of my chest

Was ripped and de-doublooned?

Buried to my head in the tide

I swam through the well of my throat.

“Relentless Soliloquy” is from Backwards Days (Penguin, October 2007), and was first published in Forklift, Ohio.