F a t h e r L u k e . com

I unzipped to take a leak. The phone rang.
I zipped back up.

I walked to the phone.

“hello?”
“Is this Father Luke”
“yes”
“You owe us a lot of money.”
“i owe a lot of people a lot of money”
“Well, what do you plan on doing about it?”
“i was thinking about getting a job”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“listen. i was gonn’a use the rest room”
“What about our money?”
“you’re just gonn’a have to wait. i need to take a leak”

I put the phone back down, and started walking back.
The doorbell rang.

I looked at the door.
I unzipped, and just kept walking.

nobody wants to get old

when you’re a kid, sure, you want to grow up
so that you can eat desert for dinner
without anyone hollering at you

i take longer to get out of bed, now

and i can’t walk as far as i used to without finding pain

letters come in the mail from bill collectors
instead of getting prizes from coupons i’ve sent in
which i’ve found on the backs of boxes

sitting on the steps, i let the wind
take my unopened letters, as i push up off the last step,
straighten up, and go inside

one by one they came to help me

I have more power than you, I’ll take care of that,
said the one.

I have your interests in mind, I’ll do that,
and the other.

one by one they came
to help me.

and to all of them I just said
no.

I saw something in a magazine about a place that
was voted the number one employer to work for in America.

The people were photographed smiling at their desks.
They ate food prepared for them, without cost, by the company.
They got massages at work.
They were allowed to bring pets to work.
The pets were smiling, too.

What were the people doing at work if it was the best place to work?
The only reason I go to work is to be able to not work.
Not work more.

And, of course, they aren’t hiring where I live.

she and i talk on the internet from time to time
it’s worse than the next best thing

can’t hear
taste
touch
see or feel.

sigh
lol
and all the happy horse shit of Instant Messages

all i want to do is to be able
to touch her hair

see her smile

hear her

taste her breath

i touch the screen,
then i touch myself

I plucked a hair from my nose.
The follicle at the end of the hair was a clear bulb.

The length of the hair held my attention.
I was surprised a hair that long could fit inside my nose.

I twirled the hair between two of my fingers.

Then I peeled the clear bulb off the end of the hair,
and it got caught underneath a finger nail.

I liked the hair with the bulb at the end,
and I don’t know why I peeled it off of it.

One day I will be a pile of ashes
that fit in a box

and the ashes won’t smile
or cry

ashes float in the wind