broke my elbow and I said so what
your grandma fell down the stairs
again? big whoop! c'mon just look
at her. She's not even crying!
the way I hear it god listened to
the prayers of an eleven-year-old
boy from barmen wuppertal germany
who prayed harder than all of you
that none of god's children would
ever have to feel pain ever again
and well isn't that just sweet???
it took over the news a whole day
so now when I cut my face shaving
I let that mug bleed all day long
spicy food has lost all its punch
haha do you remember "flinching?"
no one's scared of nothin no more
& hell everybody got tattoos now!
we can't tell if we're doing good
at the gym or not, or even know how to tell when we're full!!
imagine my surprise when I got in
that car wreck & limped away with
a smile. remember your shock when
the other shoe dropped in silence
might as well have been red paint
when I dragged the blade and felt
only the sensation of opening
god got it wrong again, fucked it
just like me. why go and do some
dumb shit like that you might ask
in a world without no more pain
but he forgot about guilt. forgot
heartache. forgot grief and shame
and well god-don't-know what else
there are so so many ways to hurt
who among us hasn't failed & been
failed by imprecision of language
& don't we all make dumb mistakes
& don't somebody always gotta pay
hey someone get ahold of that kid
run it up the holy flagpole again
make sure he's more specific this
time. you tell him I said or else
###
Josh Shepard is the author of CUTTING PROMOS: PRO WRESTLING ERASURE POEMS and INSIDE VOICE: POEMS OVERHEARD (IN BOOKSTORES & LIBRARIES). He is an artist and writer living in Oklahoma City where he works for the public library. Josh Shepard is a BRUISER.