Mister Lonely

   “You can live forever

     and you can live forever—”

You can say goodbye

to your room

item by item

then put on your hat

and say adiós

     “Sisters, are you ready?”

sound of habits

in a free fall

whipping and torn

a soft landing

in the gully

where they pulled

the ship over

the mountain

Was it the movie

   or the making of—

A life so other

you crave it

wanna lick it down

     “Dear World,

      Dear World and everyone in it,

      from the moment I was born

      I remember feeling different…”

Honest Abe makes a promise

to kill the sheep

          “sheep or shit”

“my life don’t count for nothin’—”

    “to the dreams who make us who we are—”

             “there’s no truer souls

               than those who impersonate”

     “The Greatest Show on Earth!”

Dead Marilyn tells living Michael

to follow his destiny

This was 2007

   “That’s show business, folks”

   “The wonder of it—”

     a love song to the movies

              or vaudeville

in the end

a boyish haircut

a red polo

alone in the middle

of the crowd

and the plane crashes

of course

“we can make it seem better

                for a while”