Van Stanley

No Matter What Happens, The Important Part Is What Happens When You Make It Out That Door

     you.  you
          are.  you are
trying.  you are trying
to remember.  you are trying to remember
     something.

you are trying to remember something
& it is not here & you are trying
to remedy that.

you have got one foot out of the door, but 
you only noticed because you felt it swing tight.
you — YOU, me

i am talking to me, you, & if you
have made it to this point, keep going.

you get so focused on being understood.
you get so you forget babies run over by mobs
you forget old men run over by mobs
heading for the aisles on black friday.

you think this is about consumerism, but it’s not.
you are what’s being consumed, sometimes, too.
you think it’s about the phoenix deciding to go aflame
deciding to go through the first pains of breathing again
deciding to learn its lessons again
deciding to purge them again
deciding its worth, ages down
as a metaphor
which it always was, mind you.
there never was a phoenix.
only you.

and you can’t always cry just because you want to.
and this cigarette tastes like potpourri.
and my arms are as long as memory.
and i am only reaching out to the day i look back on me, again

(Source: vanstanley)