Past Lives

 Past Lives

I recognize the guy in the photo-

I can’t quite place his face 

I can see a certain resemblance 

but it’s nothing if not vague 

they seem to be having quite a time 

everything shines at that age 

then you get fat bald and wise 

what you wouldn’t trade for another chance 

these past lives a fiction 

who’s writing them anyways 

I was once filled with anticipation 

now eye rolls fill my belly 

past lives feel like an exception 

to this misery and fear 

who said there was life without possibility 

it’s nothing I want to hear 

I ignore the cracks in my back 

now my hands don’t wanna close 

I reach for that pen like Burroughs 

with a needle the ink then turns to smoke 

I’m gonna write my way out of this 

add another chapter 

a last minute come from behind 

explosion blown in the jaws of failure