For Nathaniel Vincent Breaux and Kristen Young

One by one we go life is so beautiful so cherish it one by one we go life is involved so embrace it one by one into the tunnel down the hole up the ladder with one tooth I will be good again while others will never come back one by one we go in line to our jobs on vacation from life some of us as free as we will ever be unto death back into life with a lucky dream strapped to our neck wrist box one by one we go some of us to war to school to the emergency room over and over again although we might not know it one by one we go into the fire out in the rain praying on the floor paying more than what it’s for we are consumers in a campaign one by one we buy into it all because we cannot live without it I live with my shoes untied in fact I wear sandals and people can see my toes they hear me coming and say nothing cuz it doesn’t matter anymore one by one you open your arms and say hello please open your arms and say hello please open your arms and put down those phones right now before well I don’t know I’m never going to get used to this I resist the need to progress instead delve and grow wiser older one by one we go into our own age or are you carried away burned in a fire hot and clear strangled by angels in a poem I invented the authors I wanted to read one by one they appear to me violently their words come like daggers they are pens I own nothing I could give it all away except for my books that always kills me one by one we die a little every time maybe we don’t have much left so we succumb a little every day one by one we dispose and rummage through our purses even some men humanity is so helpless without technology and that drives me crazy your placidity is death defying your health and mental image behind you remind you in the mirror of what it is to be alive minus your subscription one by one I see all of you sign up for one app after another because it seemingly makes your life easier without your crutch you can live no longer but you have each other so open your arms and put down your phones.