I think we like animals because they are dumber than us. & we are dumb, dumb, dumber than we know & we smell things on accident not even on purpose. but sometimes we do something smart & have a good old pat about it & have a good old pat with our pet & our cow. probably, we use their spirits in our poetry like we wear outfits. it’s gay.

we went on a trip and I held the steering wheel while you lit your cigarette. it was 1982 & we both had boyfriends. run, run, run in the Mississippi sun. I wrote that silly song under the waterfall. I did not take off my clothes because I wasn’t wearing the good underwear & I didn’t want you to know. but I was right over the border with a broken heart & so wishing I had brought the beer. or a sandwich. or left my cellphone in the corvette. fuck it.

the next day I was in “Breaux Bridge” & everyone was thinking about divorce. I had no idea. but people are absolutely not places. just shut your eyes. because you can imagine, friend, when you & I are sitting on the couch with our backs to the street you are not divorced & I have never kissed a girl. when we are just there, on the couch, it’s real if you keep touching your face like an idiot & getting up to pour the perfect sazerac. but I felt like a domino standing next to other dominos. can you imagine? a whole planet. it was really stupid. but, seriously we only knew time was passing because every now & then I had to use the bathroom & you had to ignore your Aunt. I finally bought a butter dish. my answer is yes. to everything. I ate meat & lived but you were too much of a wuss to get a drive-thru daiquiri.

there was a drunk dude I didn’t know asleep on my porch so we honked the horn twice & drove around the block once & when he was still there I totally freaked out. you’re a really good friend & already I have said too much. I heard him dry heaving outside my window. I took you to the river but I didn’t tell you anything about myself. I said I was a good good girl & shouldn’t we get going? it’s great. I have a recycling bin. there were 300 boxes on my front porch & the whole neighborhood descended on me with box cutters & said let us help you! one man had his hand in his pocket & was touching his weiner while we talked. that totally freaked me out but he brought me a bunch of peppers later to make up for it. & I thought of you, JT & my body is so clean because I showered a bunch & a body is all we have sometimes. like really, just shut your eyes. remember when you told me to dental dam my heart outside that gay bar under the overpass? I was being an asshole & I said, what flavor? when I think of bodies I can’t stop thinking about how sick E.T looks in that bathtub scene. gross. the body makes great movies. I really never write about it that much for how much I think about them all & didn’t do my homework when L.M told me to sit in front of a video camera & watch my face go. I figured that’s someone else’s problem.