Rami Obeid
three poems
Hospital Music
Small paper cups
of coffee are a
token of something
Why are you there this time?
Worried that your liver
is failing?
Ease up on the Tylenol you
Idiot
Did you take too much or not enough?
I sit in the waiting room
Shit problems
I mean
Something is wrong with Something
Step right this way
Coffee is good says my Dad
Eat an apple
Drink some water and
Smoke a cigarette
Take some blood
Can’t find a vein
I haven’t shit in three days
And I lie about what I’ve taken
Wait in the secluded area of blue
I have a Faulkner book with me
I fall asleep after trying to force myself in Southern Sun
A couple of hours later
after laboring over my living
My liver is fine
My kidneys are fine
Go home and go as you are
My girlfriend picks me up
And I drink water
by itself this time
As Far As I Can Get Away From Mold
I Remain Desolate in this House Full of Gold
A wet log in a
Lonesome cabin
is better than
fire starters
who howl at
game shows
on TV
I have uses
for the useless
wood; I can write
something about
this misfortunate
Log/ but ah!
How lucky am I
to be able choose to
be cold rather
than be warm
with a headache
and no dinner
plans
Yes, sometimes
cold is better;
I can always put
on a jacket
but I cannot
strip skin:
I am a walking
Contradiction;
Books surround
Me with their
uselessness
and they probably
say the same
about
me
Die In The Key of C# Minor
There,
see it:
50s Doo-Wap
is in my ear
on a lonely
rain bus
Screaming does not
work when I stare at
soup being heated
after I come back
One whistle of
the lighthouse
screams and
tells me to
go to bed
God Loves Another Rami
24 January, 2021