Incomplete Souls
Our incomplete souls
filled with desires of all kinds
some of them aren’t even mine
the closer I get to the prize
the more something else catches my eye
I feel like I’m not in control
I sit between shelves
of objects
too many to collect
what I want never ends
just makes me worship
the lack
how far do you have to
zoom out
for it to all make sense
to the point where
we appear
as driven insects
or further until
we’re molecules
in a dance
guided by forces
not discovered
yet
blurred Kodak photographs
cheese from that farm
an old Brazilian album
memories of my mom
as a child playing soccer
my dog in the park
collecting comic books
arguing about artists
trains to Paris; planes to Rio
memories of Tehran
drugs in your apartment
waking up with the sun
joking with students
paychecks on books
pens from Muji
poems leaking where I stood
my father’s TV habits
brother’s off-limit room
trips from my side of the car
being stubborn for no reason
on stage in bands
in front of a class
alone with a guitar
feeling happy in secret
Everybody leaves
for certain we grieve
for some we’re relieved
where they go we’ll see
I say goodbye
when I meet you
so we wont have
eternity to be blue
there might be
only this memory
and that might be
all it needs
I say hello to this solitude
that stays when you leave
the only one that’s faithful
despite my own wilding ways
Rock as Subculture
before the internet
dating apps
music was scary
it was all that
do you remember rocknroll
on your clock radio
decades pass like gas
over your telephone
Shoobie doobie
doobie doo wah
Papa Oooh Mau Mau
Ooo papadu
Shimmie shimmie koko bop
a whop baba lubop
nah nah nah hey hey
la la la la la
I never knew what it meant
in my ears, wet cement
yet I’m haunted by the sound
all those years can’t be found
