Today I chipped my front tooth biting into a fork
I was distracted cause I was watching The X-Files reboot
The episode about the Trash Man
And how homeless people have no voice
That they get treated like trash
This resonated with me for superficial First World reasons
Cause my girlfriend was texting me about wanting a puppy
Or maybe about the Disney trip in June
And all I kept thinking about was:
‘I wish we were more intimate
I am lonely without her intimacy
This chipped tooth won’t help matters’
When you feel lonely
It’s like there’s always this hungry seagull picking through your plastic garbage
Well, after Mulder and Scully solved the case
I walked down to the 7-Eleven near my house to get some smokes
And on the way there I was listening to some playlist on my phone
And “Power” by Kanye West came on and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I really like this song’
But then there’s this one verse, “I don’t need your pussy, bitch, I’m on my own dick”
And it was like an epiphany
I thought, ‘This song is clearly about overcoming loneliness’
After I bought some Marlboros, I ran into Sylvester who I’ve known for a while
He wanders the Elmwood Village asking people for money but everyone loves him
He has a great laugh – anyway I gave him five dollars since it’s been a while
And as I walked away I kept thinking about power, how weird it is
That maybe there will always be loneliness, a lack of intimacy
That maybe there will always be homelessness and that makes me sad
Cause when one person doesn’t have any power, it means none of us have any power
When I got home I swished some Listerine around my mouth cause my tooth was hurting
And I tongued whatever pain was there and felt a smidgen of intimacy
Then I masturbated and questioned every decision I’ve ever made
Justin Karcher is a playwright and poet living in Buffalo, NY. He is the Co-Artistic Director of Theater Jugend as well as its Playwright-in-Residence. He is the author of Tailgating at the Gates of Hell from Ghost City Press. Recent works have been published in 3:AM Magazine, The Buffalo News, Plenitude Magazine, Melancholy Hyperbole, and more. He is the winner of the 2015 Just Buffalo Literary Center members' writing competition. He tweets @Justin_Karcher.
