All This & More
It’s a tug-of-war
It’s an orgy
All mixed-up
Like a Chinese fire drill
It’s that friend we all had
Who destroyed himself
I know my father
Because of myself
His rage
I can hear him shouting
“It’s nothing but a goddamn nightmare!”
Yes it is
He was right
But it’s a lot of other things too
David Burdett
9/25/2023
Target Practice
It doesn’t matter
Who shot the arrow
It matters even less
Who crafted the goddamn thing
What matters
Is how you learn
To live with it
In spite of everything
David Burdett
9/24/2023
Trigger Happy
Faceless
Joyless
Corporate clip joint
Reach-around livin'
Food court
Criminal court
Holding court
Like an old joke
Going down
On prom night
I hear the clinking
Of bottles from behind
The new carwash
Where the old carwash
Used to stand
Like an old joke
Going down
On prom night
David Burdett
9/24/2023
Disco Madness
I was drinking
At this gay bar
When this dude
Started telling me
All sorts of nonsense
When finally
I recognized
An opening
That made sense
And before you
Could scream,
Turn that terrible
Fucking music off!
We both recognized
Each other’s humanity
I bought the final round
And the next time
I saw him
He had no idea
Who I was
David Burdett
1/5/2022
Come Home
Today
I am able
To understand
In three words
What a lifetime
Of misunderstanding
And destruction
Could not convey
You are loved
David Burdett
9/23/2023
Tread Lightly
There are days
Where I can see
The connection
The brilliance
Between one word
And the next
And other days
Where I can sit
For hours
Picking the shit
From the tread
Of my boot
With a twig
And a bucket
Of soapy water
Today is one of those days
David Burdett
9/22/2023
Fritz! That’s It!
I got to Fritz just in time to avoid the entry fee and watch the strippers smoke and bitch about how cheap the customers were. “These fucking broads” I thought as they yammered on about lap dances and car payments.
I wasn’t there to listen to them bitch. Fuck them. I interrupted.
“Do you know how long I have to work and the type of shit work I have to do to make in an hour what you guys make in five minutes? I stated. They glared at me like I was the enemy. I didn’t care. “I gotta dig holes and stand in raw sewage.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t be comin’ in here!” said the stripper with the most kids and the biggest drug habit.
“I got to get my paper!” another stripper quipped.
“That’s right girl!” interjected her co-worker.
“Cheap-ass motherfuckers be comin’ in here all night not even tryin’ to buy me a drink!” said another.
It was five minutes till cover charge and the “Twat Squad” was escorted inside to prepare for an evening of shaking their asses and scamming the chumps.
“Do I still got a couple of minutes?” I asked Big Jon.
“Make it quick” he said.
I ducked around the corner, slipped between some dumpsters and retrieved a tall can I had stashed on my way in. I popped it, pounded it, then made my way back to the “Gentlemen’s Club” where the whores had clientele and the customer didn’t even have to drop his pants to get fucked.
Excerpt from short story in progress.
Who Gives a Shit
The show was over
The fat lady had sang
About missing her kids
Who lived in Vegas
And some other depressing shit
About getting serious
About getting clean
And how much
She loved her kids
And something about
Some shitbags
She knew in Palmdale
Who were “solid people”
If I was interested…
And some more depressing shit
I immediately flushed
From my brainpan
Because it was obvious
That I didn’t give a shit
And because I knew
She was full of shit
She called me a faggot
And flew out the door
Like a derelict Phoenix
In full flight from reality
Because nobody
And I mean nobody
Gave a shit
David Burdett
11/13/2022
Poetry is Gay
Certain men
Despise poetry
Too many losers
No trophies
Nobody buys you a beer
When you nail it
Better than Christ
Nobody wants to hear
Some twice baked potato
Bitch about the weather
"Poetry is gay"
He said,
"I don't fuck around with that fag shit"
He continued,
"I collect discarded batteries"
Together we sang
"Sometimes I get lucky
And when they work
It's like I got paid
For doing nothing"
But couldn't bring
Ourselves to smile
David Burdett
2/21/2023
Ground Cow
I fried a hamburger earlier
It looked so lonely
Choking on its own grease
So I put some cheese on it
For reasons
Only known to God
It made everything worse
I wanted to climb into the pan
With my hamburger
And brush the melted cheese
From its hamburger face
But of course
That wasn’t possible
So I drowned my hamburger
In the kitchen sink
Then smoked
A lonely cigarette
Thinking
I don’t know
How many more nights
Like these
I can endure
Before my soul
Is ground
And drowned
Like hamburger
David Burdett
11/17/08