as we go along in poetry

had the power socket gone up in flames
at three in the morning
not five in the afternoon
I would be dead right now
suffocated
along with my family and their pets
we would have all been dead

but the power socket in the living room
went up in flames at five in the afternoon
when my pop was sitting down to watch the news
when I was typing in my adjacent bedroom
so there’s a hole in the back of the loveseat
the drapes are ruined
there’s a scorch mark on the wall
other than a day of inconvenience
a few new bills owed to this one or that
everything is mostly the same

a frayed wire that could have
melted through that last bit of insulation
at any time of the day
any day of the year
melted when we could react within seconds
now it feels like it never happened at all

we are the inheritors of random chance
that bus, the brakes didn’t go out
while we were crossing the street
the person before us didn’t bleed
on that one restroom toilet seat
the meteors hit the dinosaurs so
mammals were able to evolve into us
sometimes you’re the driver
sometimes you’re the bus
sometimes you’re the meteor
sometimes you’re the dinosaur

when you’re feeling your highest highs
you have to remember
you don’t deserve all of the credit
we are just making this up as we go along
when you’re feeling your lowest lows
you have to remember
you don’t deserve all of the blame
we are just making this up as we go along

beyond even that
sometime the wall just catches on fire and
either you’re awake so you live or
you’re asleep so you never wake up again

go
tell that person you’re shy around
that you want to make dirty love with them
go
join the circus before your legs give out
go
the meteors will fall eventually
someday your house will burst into flames
on the whole you’re pretty lucky
that day wasn’t yesterday