Potential Energy

Leg's trying to kick, but it's hard to throw a foot when sitting down. The night air is crisp and the lights of the local excuse for a city beckon with false promises of forgetful adventure. There's music I haven't heard somewhere, but I'll be damned to know what it is. Today's cigarette didn't help... my lungs still want to scream and I want to run. It's time to go, but who the fuck knows where?

Dan Black's kicking on the radio, but nobody here knows who he is. The night air envelops the truck and a breeze that lacks humidity feels good across the side of your face. There's a new restaurant on the corner of a new building in a shopping center, and the restaurant next to that one is closed for business. Japanese food. It might be good, but you've already driven by. Nicotine gum is a piss-poor replacement for a friendly burn. Self-destruction can be fun if done properly.

The Merlot's been chilled a little too much, but who gives a shit? The night brings moths and spiders to the artificial light above your head and below your ceiling. There's a new book that has to be read, even before the other book that's been started but not yet finished. Why worry if the plots will mesh together in your mind? You briefly find it funny that growing marijuana is slowly gaining legality, while growing tobacco is quickly becoming a futile exercise. The water at the beach is undeniably warm, and it's a wonder the desire to go swimming in the moonlight hasn't been succumbed to yet. Writing in the passive voice sure adds a lot of forms of "to be" to a paragraph, doesn't it?

Life's picking up speed, and people you don't want to leave behind are going to be left behind. Hell, people you didn't want to leave you behind have left you behind. Everything's too kinetic these days. What's wrong with having a conversation behind smoke-filled eyes? Sure, your clothes will stink, but if everybody does it, no one will notice. There sure are a lot of beautiful women in life. And their legs are kicking. You'd better behave, asshole.

It's time to go. Have a cigarette across state lines. It might taste better there.

"They annoy me, those who employ me. They could destroy me. They should enjoy me." - Dan Black