going for a walk alone by the river on a sunny/rainy day

land is like the bottom of the ocean
but for the sky

i thought, while i was crossing a bridge
so i could go for a walk alone by the river
on a sunny/rainy day

i saw a guy sitting outside a restaurant eating an extra large pizza by himself
it was 930 am
i thought, ‘my guy’

then i pictured my life as a chorus of simultaneously occurring alternative realities
several new versions of which would come into being every time i made a decision
but many of which would also lead to my
untimely demise

‘a cool game u can play with desire is
try saying u want a thing
u think u want
out loud
then watch as
the opposite becomes true’

is a recurring thought i also thought
while i was walking alone by the river
on a sunny/rainy day

since like most people i am privately convinced
that deep down i am right about everything

for instance, i know the idea
that harry & louis are dating
is Completely Ridiculous but
part of me still wants to believe

its just that i need a new thing to fall in love w/
so i can finish this book of poetry

its just that i need a new thing to
[?]

not that i’m saying it isn’t wonderful
to walk alone by the river
on a sunny/rainy day

especially when u’ve just been given
a brand new purple anorak

& u haven’t decided
wat to name it yet

its just best to ensure u r always
in some type of chemically-altered state

so u can continue to believe
that the calmer, truer version of the u
You Used To Be
is something u can always go back to

later, while i was walking alone by the river
on a sunny/rainy day

i realized that there were hundreds of tiny tree frogs on the path
& that i was crushing them
& that they were trying to escape
& that i couldn’t do anything about it

it seemed like a good metaphor for
stepping on hundreds of tiny tree frogs
& not being able to do anything about it

o well, i thought
who isn’t irreversibly stuck
in the middle of their lives, anyway

Oscar Bruno d’Artois (1989–?) is an American poet from Paris, France. His first book, TEEN SURF GOTH, comes out from Metatron Press this fall. You can follow him on twitter @brunoartois