People jump off ledges
high above the street.
Dogs get crushed by cars.
People kill people
with guns,
with knives,
with their bare hands.
Trains come off their rails and spill destruction
onto the morning commute.
Mom is screaming at her children.
Dad is in jail for selling you know what.
Your pilot is badly hung over.
You can be replaced at work.
Your poetry is god awful.
So is the music you listen to
and the movies you watch.
Your socks don’t match.
You have crumbs on your shirt.
You didn’t wash your hands.
Your teeth hurt.
You smell rank.
A beautiful bird crashes hard into the window.
The model can’t keep food down anymore.
She’s coughing blood.
The president is an asshole.
We’re all going to die.
The doctor killed his patient
because he checked Facebook
during open heart surgery.
Mom and Dad are divorced now.
The children hate them.
The house is on fire.
He drinks too much.
She’s crazy on drugs.
Rich, white men pass laws to make themselves richer.
Someone shoots one of them in the face.
The sky glows danger.
The best player on your team just shredded his knee.
You slip and fall down the basement stairs.
Your arm snaps like a pencil.
Your 2 year old drowns in the neighbors’ pool.
All of this is happening,
all day,
every day.
This is the world we live in.
But I don’t care about
any of it.
All that matters to me
is this tiny, gray kitten
peeking
out
from the patio door.
