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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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