there’s a dead bird floating
in the water next to my boat.
some people,
when you tell them you live
on a boat,
some people think
“you must be rich”.
some people think
“you must be poor”.
both are true.
some people live in an area where
it is sometimes cloudy and
they talk about how gray it is.
some people live in an area where it is
almost always cloudy and
they talk about the clear sky.
it is again gray today but
the mountains are visible.
it is again gray today but
gray is not a monolith.
i worked a job and rode my bike to work.
the people at the job said
“it’s great that you ride your bike to work!”.
i was sometimes fat and sometimes less so.
i worked another job and rode my bike to work.
the people at the job said
“did you lose your driver’s license from drinking?”
i was sometimes drunk and sometimes less so.
there’s a dead bird floating
in the water next to my boat.
it is a gull, i think it is a gull.
white and fluffy and
its head and feet are in the water.
white and floating and
probably full of gas.
gas is what fills us as
a byproduct of living things.
even when we die,
we are filled with living things,
living things that then fill us with gas.
our dead body blows up like a ballon,
like a blimp, like a
cloud.
we think ourselves as
in control of our bodies,
think of our bodies as so human.
really, we are less human than we are
other things, other living things
that keep on living even after we think we die.
i look out a window and see
the dead bird, floating.
i look out a window and see
the clouds, floating.
i look out a window and see
the mountains, standing.
just as they have for
thousands of years.
thousands of years.
thousands more.
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