Ananda Selah Osel

Relativity of Importance

about to walkout

on the dishes

 

my destiny was not to

be a dishwasher / bus boy

 

and even though I 

badly needed the money

I just could barely take it

any longer

 

the water was hot

and the room filled with steam

as the dishes clanked

while outside

birds chirped 

as the beetles walked the gravel

while the walls closed in

as the workers worked

and people got on

and off

the bus

 

as the father raised his fist

as the sun beat the earth

a spider spun his web

and sucked the fly

of it’s blood

while

the lawyer fucked his secretary

on the 22nd floor

while the elevator moved up

and then moved down

 

as the fire station burned

the waitresses inside 

shook their asses

 

and as I waited 

 

on 

myself

Chasing Something Faster Than Us

if we could break down

the walls

that separate us

we would 

 

if we could bridge the gap

between the sons 

and the fathers 

we would

 

if we could take our

consciousness higher

than is conceivable

we would

 

if we could defer the dreams 

of the many 

evil men 

we would

 

if we could excel

within our passions

and loves

we would

 

if we could revolutionize 

the system of

human suffering

we would

 

i have no doubt that 

we would

 

but i know that

we can’t 

 

and

we won’t

 

and that knowledge makes our present

state of affairs seem no so bad 

after all

“You’re a God Dammed Idiot!”

“see, I have this philosophy”

“yeah – what?” 

“well, I don’t know if you’d understand”

“of course I will - just spit it out”

“no really I don’t think you’d get it”

“are you calling me stupid?”

“huh…”

“are you calling me fucking stupid?”

“i wasn’t”

“wasn’t?”

“i mean i’m not”

“jesus – ok, what the fuck is it then”

“it’s just that nothing means anything

everything is just along for the ride – after 

this, nada, nothing, none of this matters”

“are you nuts, of course things mean stuff”

“what we do, it means nothing, nothing matters”

“i don’t want to hear this shit, your always going 

off on these meaningless philosophical tangents”

“no really, i’ve thought about it…”

“you’re a god damned idiot! –

you’ve smoked too much of that shit”

“well, I guess we don’t see eye to eye then”

“guess not”

Biography

Ananda Selah Osel's autobiographical poems have been featured in a diverse 
range of publications including The Paris Review, Zygote In My Coffee, Denver 
Syntax, Cause and Effect Magazine, and Word Riot Magazine among others.  His 
latest chapbook, The Meter is Running & We're Almost Out of Change is available 
from the Proletariat Press. Ananda lives in Seattle, Washington. Read more of 
Ananda's work at: Ananda-Osel.com.

**Copyright 2008 Ananda Selah Osel, all rights reserved Send us your comments on this article