Two AM decisions

· by · in free verse, poetry. ·

Once he avalanched proposals
thunderstormed decisions,
rained om bottomless
agreements, demanding
black keyed signatures,
while fucking interns
past office hours
in the copy room.

From faux performance indicators,
bonuses for prenups
and his former wife’s
Martinis, he’s left alone
to sip a brown-bag Bud,
carefully avoiding anything
to stain his paisley tie.

It’s two AM, a noose
prepared. He mostly failed
but not to kill himself.

Suicide by Luc Tuymans

Suicide by Luc Tuymans

Mama Zen wants us to use 77 words to shock her at toads … don’t know if I succeeded in anything but to make myself a little sadder…
—
February 19, 2016

28 responses to “Two AM decisions”

  2. Um, step away from the “rope.” Something tells me you should not be making decisions at 2:00 a.m. Probably none of us should. 🙂

    This is awesome: “Once he avalanched proposals”

    I love this as well, with that “om” in there, typo or not: “rained om bottomless agreements”

    I always find it ballsy (in a good way) to stick “fucking” in a poem, so kudos.

    That closing stanza is killer (hee hee), but this is still my favorite part: “carefully avoiding anything / to stain his paisley tie”

    NEVER ruin a good-looking tie. But sometimes “carefully avoiding anything” is exactly what ruins everything. This actually makes me think of how people approach art: yeah, a controlled hand produces precise, accurate work, but I can’t help but gravitate toward the mad dashes and splotches of something more abstract. And really, that’s what life is: art. I just happen to think it should be messy.

    I love the way you used the line breaks to point out that the tie IS the noose.

    Also, the line that juts out with “indicators” beyond all the other words … it makes me see Indie caters. Is your ex-wife all Indie and shit? Maybe you should cater more to her whims so you can get back together. Or at least have ex-sex. 😛 It’s probably worth living for.

  5. Wow! This is such a metaphor for life in the 21st century! Guttural, hard-hitting and cynical… what’s not to like?

  8. Very strong use of verbs. Those first three lines are magnificent: “Once he avalanched proposals
    thunderstormed decisions,
    rained om bottomless….”

  10. I’m hard to shock but it surprised me 🙂
    I like the first few lines, for instance thunderstormed decisions without that word would take many more words to get across. Your wordplay just gets better and better

  12. P.S. I love how you doubled the meaning in the title. There are two “ams” in him. That will make anyone feel suicidal. But anyone who really loves you will figure out how to work with all the ams. Hopefully his ex-wife still has a key and will save him in time. She will probably have to confiscate his tie collection, though.

  13. This is a fun read poem, Bjorn. It shocked me. Kerry?
    Reminded me of physicians beginnings, from the barbers who believed in leaching the clients for cure. The used real leaches. It’s 2:33 AM here, I best shut things down. I’d like to sleep in in the morning.

  16. This is so well written (I almost said “executed” but I stopped myself, sort of). You show the drastic change in so few, well chosen words. Kudos.

  19. Oh, sad that he succeeded at the last thing. I wish he had succeeded at other things in life so he had not found suicide necessary.

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