Ron Reikki

I’M IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY AND I KNOW I’M NOT GETTING THE JOB

but we still have to finish this meal.

They bought me durian for dessert;

eating it is like preparing an essay

for a teacher you hate.  The woman across from me

is a drunk, but she works here.  How did she

get in?  We eat.  We don’t know what to say.

I start talking about Jeff Noon’s Vurt

but no one’s heard of it.  Now I feel

like I could vomit.  I’m ready to kill someone

for a job.  When they’ve never had to work for one.

PAM (STARING INTO THE SUN)

I keep thinking about when she left.

There was this burning smell in the riot

of my breaths.

                        I think the greatest horror

is realizing you can’t kiss someone again.

I think it’s too fiery, these realizations . . .

The past only leaves you with steam.