lindsayliveshere.org

An incomplete list of likely excuses

i’ve been sick, i’ve been busy, i’ve been typing with my laces tied, i’ve been working on this roof but the shingles came unstuck, i’ve been under the bridge when the troll asked for a toll but my singing voice stank and my guitar’s been unstrung. i’ve been in bed when the cops showed up, i’ve been watching my 83 year-old grandmother strip in her living room, i’ve been calling to my mother from the escalator but she took the stairs. i’ve been sick, i’ve been busy, i’ve been typing with my laces tied, i’ve been watching the clock in the laundromat slip its tongue toward the next minute, the next hour, the next lick of possibility, got a fistful of quarters but i’ve missed the last wash. i’ve been sick, i’ve been busy, i’ve been watching old women fan free lemon slices under sugar-packet sugar and eat them rind and all. i’ve been sick, i’ve been busy, i’ve been dizzy and dying and flying, I’ve been asking you to call me, but nothing rings when the phone’s off the hook, except the metal bats in the park, bells in the dust where an object meets force. i’ve been sick. i’ve been busy. i’ve been here, the whole time.