I’M STUCK WITH THIS LONGING
I’m not going to run for office
as the loneliest man in town
in the uncharted darkness
of licorice-flavored amnesia.
I roam around in gnawing hunger,
naked and alone in the big emptiness
of my neighborhood’s monotone streets
I’m a parakeet released from its cage.
Perhaps there’s violence in the silence—strangers
cross the street to avoid me.
I long to touch soft skin,