By The Guppy
Date: 29 October 1999

detergent

i was just sitting there watching the clothing dry
as the grass was growing high
and the birds up in the sky were singing something about her
it wasn't true
i wish that sherlock holmes had handed out some clues
for the common dude
or at least had offered up some names
seems so much of it is a guessing game
i thought of her as i opened up a magazine
a packet of perfume stuffed in between the pages
between the lines
in red ink read "all is fine"
but the color was wrong
and the scent was a little too strong
for a trail so trampled on
as she had claimed to be
how can i get what i pay for when i get it for free?
better head to the atm machine
just in case i run out of luck
or it runs out on me
all the same when it comes down to dignity
i thought of her when i thought about dignity
i thought of elvis when i thought about dignity
i thought of doughnuts when i thought about dignity
and i guarantee not one of them ever thought of me
the same
once, she asked me what i thought of love
i told her it was like someone
standing over me
above
with some feathers and a funny little glowing circular floating hat
she didn't laugh
i guess it wasn't all that funny
but it was true
at least to me
maybe not to you
"we've got so much in common" she said as she lit up a fire
and casually thrust at me the cursing point
of another ball point pen
again, i scratched my cursive custom code for her to dial
if she had the time sometime
if not, that's fine
and we drifted off to a sleepless bed
in arms and wings entwined
we lost the bindings of our suitcase blues
for just long enough to miss them
barely caught ourselves before we fell too fast
or felt too hard
to let it pass before the break of dawn
the deck of cards was stacked against the door
alarming would it be if someone entered
they'd be floored
not like they'd not seen it all before
just a different point of view
nothing new
she had simply caught me in between cycles
i was clean
but stuck somewhere around agitate and rinse
i thought of her when i thought about fabric softener
i thought of her when i found only one sock
it wasn't really blaming that i did
more like giving credit for the loss