By christopher lake
Date: 21 June 2000

the past just happens

the past just happens to be useless
i say
and entirely overrated
there's nothing in it
that could have prepared me 
for now
for you
nothing but nothing
enough empty calories
to get sick on
words won't do
but i guess thank you
to the girl twice my age
from one street over
who took off her bathing suit
in the swimming pool
for me that day
a skinny nine-year old kid
and said look
here 
and here
then offered to explain things further
in my room
with the winnie-the-pooh
sheets
on the bed
first girlfriend
no one understood her
but me
since then i've been adept
at secret languages
and inspired strangeness
and thinking thoughts like
i could be in canada by midnight
in mexico by next week
if i left right now
but what then?
where next?
all escape plans turn out
to be as useful
as clothes that don't fit
fuck it
think of the future
memories are like
the cheap perfume
and red lipstick smudge
you take home
from the strip club
like names you can't remember
or never knew
to begin with
like bad liquor
that makes you throw up and pass out
before even getting silly
and stupid