Lunch
Crunch
munch, munch, munch
Gulp-Gasp!
Crunch
“Delicious...”
An Introspective Query
Kyle Green Mirror. Why is it always the mirror that gets to me in the morning? I hate it. All I see is another guy. Someone who is so positively revolting I don’t know how on this god forsaken planet any other male could ever want me. My eyes are crap brown and my hair matches, what is interesting about that? I look the same as every other freaking American on the planet. It’s like when you see a bunch of Asians in a group together, they all look the same. I look the same. Crap, now I have to go and work for “the man” again. It’s a good thing I at least enjoy my job somewhat, now I can really take advantage of those kids in high school who would call me a faggot. While I’m busy at work, they’re sitting in their hell holes playing the very games I create while they munch on another one of mommy’s cookies. Mom, oh crap! I forgot to call her back again. I wonder if Dad knows anything about her talking to me, I guess he assumes she does, but since that fight...ah eff. I need to give up on that. Dang my pours are clogged.
Hatim Smith There he goes again. What is his deal? Does he honestly need to look at himself for that long? What a weird guy. How long have we lived together now? 2 months and he does the same exact thing every morning. Rolls out of bed into the bathroom, brushes his teeth for like 30 seconds, puts on wrinkled work clothes (including his florescent orange tie and dark brown corduroy pants) and thickly framed black horn rimmed glasses, and stares into the mirror for the next 30 minutes. At himself. Nothing else, but himself. He always looks like he’s brooding about something. What is his deal? Come to think of it, I’ve never seen him shower. He does kind of stink. You’d think a gay guy would care more. At least I think he’s gay. I do catch him checking me out occasionally. EH! That’s just too far, I really need to find another place to live.
Janet Green Why doesn’t Jim just get along with Kyle? That’s the same fight we’ve had for the past 8 years, since he was 16. Kyle’s gay. My little boy is gay, I’ve accepted that I won’t have any grandchildren, why can’t he just accept it too? Gay...my only son is gay. What’s wrong with that? Nothing. nothing is wrong. I remember when I would make him his turkey sandwiches with the crust cut off and he would immediately take it and squash it until the mayonnaise was dripping out the sides and the whole thing was paper thin. I didn’t think anything was wrong with that, so what’s the problem with him being gay? It’s just like smooshing your sandwiches-- just a preference--but in men... Oh when is that boy going to call me back?!
Jayne Thompson I wonder what Kyle is doing tonight? Probably just watching his scifi movies while he sits on his lovesac eating his puffy cheetos. Dang, I should call him. I wonder if his new roommate is ok? His insecurities generally don’t allow him to make friends very easily. I wish he was closer to Seattle instead of living in Newark. I think he’d be doing better, I don’t know though, maybe he is since the last time I talked to him. I wonder if his parents are still struggling with the concept. Probably. Since Dartmouth, they haven’t been on very good terms. His poor mother, I can still hear her crying on the phone to me telling me to make it be different. I don’t really understand what the big deal is, since the night after we...well after he discovered he was gay, I’ve been ok with it. Perfectly fine. I don’t know what the big deal is.
Learning in College
Introduction
There are a few things that one will learned when college teaches you. How to read, relationships, what not to do, sociology, and where ever there is free food you will find an incredulous amount of students.
How to Read
When I am in school, I generally don’t “learn” anything, per-se, it’s more of a let’s-see-how-many-pages-I-can-fit-in-without-sleeping kind of thing and an I-need-to-finish-this-assignment-so-I-can-pass experience. In reality, the information goes into my head as long as is needed and dumped as soon as the test arrives. The true learning doesn’t come until I’ve graduated with my degree and realize for the first time that “crap, I really didn’t pay much attention in college, did I?” So, in school, you don’t learn important information for life, you learn how to read that important information and hope that those thousands of dollars of debt you are in will hopefully pay off.
**[skip down to where ever there is free food...]
Finding Free Food
Now, picture this, you are now an undergraduate student walking to lunch and outside you see a ridiculously long line that starts in the distance from what looks like...oh yes...I think that is a table. What is the first thing that pops into your head? Food. Freaking free food. Best thing on the planet earth. Forget those quarters that have been sitting in your pocket weighing you down since 10 a.m. You don’t need the vending machine Jose Olé burrito anymore. You get free food. Even if it’s crap. It’s free. Now, let me weigh my opportunity cost here. Judging by that line, I’d say it’s about 30 minutes to the table. Am I really that hungry to sit in line and listen to the people behind me flirt relentlessly or should I just deal with my burrito?
Teddy is SIX!
My little brother
Teddy
Is six today
And
I am twenty-
One
Day the gap wonʼt
Seem
That big and we
Will
Know each other
Better
Start now than
Never
Because Teddy is
Six!
Listen.
Static is all that is coming out of those blasted speakers.
The shiny metallic knobs are turned, and it remains the same.
The volume knob makes it louder, but all that is heard is static.
Annoying.
The tarnished, bent, v-shaped antenna on the top is twisted and
contorted so much just for the same sound renders it useless.
A futile attempt to lengthen it brings out the same result.
Listen
Running Away
As the air goes in and out, in and out of my lungs,
the stress leaves my body with every breath.
As the air goes in and out, in and out of my lungs,
the small clouds of breath disappear with each stride I take, and my stress disappears.
As the air goes in and out, in and out of my lungs,
the cold air strikes at my lungs as I suck in the oxygen for my aching muscles.
Each stride I take I leave a footprint of the cold stress on the frozen ground.
As the air goes in and out, in and out of my lungs,
my legs start to follow the rhythm of my racing heart pumping oxygen in and out of my lactic acid filled muscles carrying away the stress with every beat, and my feet start to follow allowing my stress to disappear.
Rainy Day
Clinching jaw while coercing
through the rain.
Clock clicks loudly clinkering
through the house.
clink
clink
clink
Jaw grows tighter coercing
through the rain.
Rain tinks softly on the
window pane.
tink
tink
tink
Coming home with squishing
feet.
Listening to tiny feet
patter
through
the
house.
The Classroom
As much as I love to
flirt,
I donʼt like to hear it from
you.
Yes,
You.
The girl who giggles
nonstop.
The boy who tries
too hard.
Give
Up.
Nothing is going to happen.
Iʼm trying to pay attention.
You need some serious separation.
Please
STOP!
Substance of Life
Water
Is
Everywhere.
And yet, I am thirsty.
The blue plastic almost brings comfort
To my exhausted muscles.
My fingers fumble to find the strange ridges.
My hands find the surprisingly supple sides,
And they squeeze the substance of life into
My fatigued and enervated sense of being.
The spout slips softly between my teeth
And a new sense of hydration envelops.
My exhausted muscles
Found the serenity in the blue plastic
with the white letters.
Everywhere
is
Water.
