Life on Loop

Armed with the knowledge that we knew nothing,

we braved the world hopeful; lost but not yet unhappy.

After a midnight drive, we’d have a bottle or six,

with two or three doses or more. We’d sit on the hood

of the truck and whistle until the sun finally rose,

celebrating thoughtless daze—O what I’d give

to relive them again. Like a warning, one day

Jericho said: “Alienation, the point where a human

bonds with anything to make existence bearable—

man’s failure to connect.” He was studying Psychology

in college and was torn between taking medicine or law.

I heard he’s a doctor now specializing in neurology,

and married somewhere in Baltimore. He did alright,

I thought, and I’ll probably never get out of here.

The truth is I go up the hill often. You see, it’s difficult

to want to come down when you’re high up there

all the time. Like an endless loop, in my mind Jericho

is still speeding and I am about to disappear into light.

In my hands I hold the only solace that pacifies

my listless days. I hear nothing. All the rest is noise.